Daming talker

Chapter 671: Quick fight and quick draw?

The final result of the court meeting today was to reject Lin Tailai’s proposal of “one hundred thousand troops and two hundred thousand taels of silver”.

At the same time, the proposal of Shi Xing, the left vice minister of the Ministry of War, was passed, and Liaodong Town was ordered to send two generals, each leading 3,000 soldiers and horses, to be deployed along the Yalu River, ready to support the Kingdom of Korea at any time.

We cannot say that the Ming officials were stupid. It was mainly because the incident happened suddenly and there was a serious lack of information.

Now, except for the time traveler Lin Tailai, no one knows how many Japanese soldiers have entered Korea.

Even the defeated Kingdom of Korea was not clear about the number of Japanese soldiers, and many people in the Ming Dynasty still habitually treated them as Japanese pirates from decades ago.

Because Lin Tailai proposed "one hundred thousand troops and two hundred thousand taels of silver", Minister of War Ye Mengxiong did not want to openly contradict Lin Tailai and did not come up with a more "reasonable" plan.

As a result, the proposal of Shi Xing, the Left Vice Minister of the Ministry of War, became the mainstream opinion. Ye Da Sima had no choice but to temporarily give up the leading power and let Shi Xing preside over the affairs of the Kingdom of Korea.

Then Ye Mengxiong privately convened the people from the Renewal Society who were most familiar with Lin Tailai to discuss Lin Tailai's intentions.

Even his own people could not understand Lin Tailai's outrageous proposal. If Lin Tailai had not accumulated enough prestige in the past, I am afraid that even his own people would have objected.

After a while of discussion, Zhou Yingqiu said, "Although I don't understand Lord Jiuyuan's deep meaning, this memorial reminds me of a story in history books."

Ye Da Sima asked with great interest: "Tell me in detail."

Zhou Yingqiu replied, "When the King of Qin was conquering the world, he wanted to destroy the State of Chu. The King of Qin first asked the veteran general Wang Jian how many troops he would need, and Wang Jian replied that he would need 600,000.

The King of Qin was not happy and asked Li Xin again. Li Xin replied that only 200,000 were needed. Then the King of Qin sent Li Xin to attack the State of Chu, but Li Xin was defeated.

Finally, the King of Qin had to call upon the veteran general Wang Jian and gave him 600,000 soldiers and horses to destroy the State of Chu.

After hearing this, everyone suddenly understood and regained their confidence.

Lin Jiuyuan's request to mobilize an army of 100,000 was indeed very similar to Wang Jian's request for 600,000 troops.

Although I still don’t understand where Lin Jiuyuan’s confidence comes from, it at least shows that Lin Jiuyuan has ideas and is not just talking nonsense.

Previously, Shi Xing, the Left Vice Minister of the Ministry of War, was silent for a while because of his fickleness and offended Lin Tailai.

Now that he is temporarily in charge of North Korean affairs, he sees this as an opportunity to make a comeback and immediately begins to actively deploy work.

On the one hand, he ordered Liaodong Town to transfer two generals to garrison on the Yalu River and Taedong River front lines for defense.

On the other hand, because he did not know the situation in Japan, Shi Xing openly recruited talents who were familiar with Japanese affairs. After all, the military strategy says that knowing yourself and the enemy will ensure victory in a hundred battles, and even a three-year-old child knows that.

Because transportation was not so developed and roads were long and difficult at that time, many families of Beijing officials still lived in their hometowns.

So there is a custom now that officials in Beijing often marry a concubine who is local to the capital, and then they separate when they leave the capital.

This has become a business. Many families in the capital who have daughters would seek to have them as concubines for officials so that they could make a fortune when the relationship breaks up.

Shi Xing had such a concubine named Yuan. When she heard that Shi Xing was recruiting talents who were familiar with Japanese affairs, the concubine's father recommended a commoner named Shen Weijing to Shi Xing.

It is said that Shen Weijing's family has been doing business for generations, traveling between the Ming Dynasty and Japan. Shen Weijing himself can even speak Japanese and is very familiar with the situation in Japan.

Now that Shen Weijing's family business has fallen into decline, he is wandering around the capital looking for an opportunity to be recruited.

So Shi Xing invited Shen Weijing over that night for examination and consultation.

After listening to Shen Weijing's introduction to the customs and culture of Japan, Shi Xing could be sure that Shen Weijing did indeed understand Japan's affairs better.

Then he asked directly: "How can we solve the problem in North Korea as quickly as possible?"

According to his qualifications, Shi Xing should have been promoted to Minister of War last year, but unfortunately the position was snatched away by Ye Mengxiong. Of course, he was not convinced.

So faced with this opportunity to make a comeback, Shi Shao Sima can't wait any longer.

Not only did he want to solve the problem, he wanted to solve it as quickly as possible.

Shen Weijing thought for a moment and replied, "Cross-border warfare is ten times more difficult than using troops at home, and it is difficult to achieve a quick victory by force.

Therefore, the quickest way to resolve the problem should be to negotiate peace.

I, Shen Weijing, am willing to serve Shao Sima and personally go to the Korean enemy camp to negotiate and investigate the enemy situation at the same time."

Shi Xing responded: "Although you are courageous and have the guts to go deep into the enemy camp, it is not reasonable for the Ming Dynasty to seek peace without fighting."

For the Ming Dynasty court, which wanted to save face, not fighting was not called negotiating peace, but asking for peace.

If Shi Xing really dared to do this, the consequence would be that he would be impeached for humiliating the country and then imprisoned.

Shen Weijing changed his words and said, "Wait until the Ming army enters Korea and wins one or two small battles, then we can start peace talks without losing face for our country.

If we can convince the Japanese military commander at this time, the quickest way would be to negotiate peace between the two families."

This means that if we quickly win one or two battles to demonstrate our strength, and then negotiate for peace, it will not be considered a loss of troops or a humiliation to the country.

For Shen Weijing, the greater the proportion of peace talks in the solution, the more important his role will be, and the more credit he will get.

If he doesn't promote peace talks, can he still go to the battlefield to fight?

Although "war" is inevitable, "war" can also serve "peace".

After Shi Xing considered all aspects of the situation for a while, he decided that Shen Weijing's "quick fight and quick draw" approach should be the most cost-effective solution.

The national treasury was already in deficit, and last year, hundreds of thousands of silver taels were spent to pacify Ningxia. Now, no one from top to bottom is willing to incur any more large expenses.

If the problem can be solved with the most cost-effective method, the court should be able to accept it.

After repeated thinking, Shi Xing ordered: "No matter what solution is used, it requires strong support from someone in the court. After all, I am only a left minister.

I heard that you and General Lu are from the same county, so please go and lobby General Lu first and ask him to support me unwaveringly."

When it comes to peace talks, the most feared thing is that the Qingliu forces with very high moral standards will interfere.

Who could bear being accused of treason? In the Ming Dynasty politics where freedom of expression was important, this kind of situation had to be guarded against.

Shen Weijing replied: "How dare you disobey my order?"

He knew that this was also a test from Shi Shao Sima. If he couldn't even convince Lu Guangzu, a fellow countryman, how could he persuade the Japanese?
When the Ming court began to make plans and deployments, by late May, the performance of Korea once again stunned the Ming court.

Pyongyang, an important city in the north, was also lost! The soldiers were defeated and the entire territory of North Korea was basically lost!
The King of Korea, Yi Sun, fled hastily to Yizhou on the other side of the Yalu River, and the only territory he could control was a small area around Yizhou!

The Ming Dynasty court is in a state of panic from top to bottom. Your Kingdom of Korea is not too small, and its previous organizational structure seemed to be quite complete. It was not a loose tribal barbarian state.

As a result, they lost almost all of their territory in less than two months. Could they be more wasteful?

Lu Zongxian, who previously claimed to know a little and said in public that "three thousand miles in depth, defending in dangerous places, and troops can be used", never thought that he would be slapped in the face by the Kingdom of North Korea when he was nearly seventy years old.

At this time, the Korean King Yi Sun, who was trapped on the Yalu River, frantically appealed to the Ming Dynasty for help and called on the heavenly soldiers to save his life.

That morning, Shi Xing, the Left Vice Minister of the Ministry of War, was preparing to go to the government office. As soon as he reached the front yard, he was told by a servant that someone was kneeling outside the gate.

It was also said that this person sent a heavy box as a gift.

Minister Shi stood at the doorway and looked out, and saw Yin Zhuoran, the chief envoy of the Korean delegation, kneeling outside, looking haggard and in disgrace.

Seeing Shi Shi coming out, Yin Zhengshi fell to the ground and shouted, "Since my country has always been submissive, I beg you to send troops across the river to save my country from disaster!"

Seeing Yin Zhengshi's pitiful look and sensing his sincerity, Shi Shilang did not fool around and replied:

"Five thousand soldiers have already been dispatched to the riverside. Today, we are urgently petitioning the Emperor. Once His Majesty approves it, we will order the troops to cross the river."

Yin Zhuoran thanked him again and again, and Shi Xing sighed again: "You concealed the truth before, just boasting about yourself, not only delayed state affairs, but also screwed General Lu!"

Yin Zhengshi really wanted to tell Shi Xing that he had not intentionally concealed the truth or wanted to brag about himself, but he truly believed that.

It was not until Minister Shi disappeared around the corner of the street that Yin Zhuoran, who was kneeling on the ground, stood up sadly.

The envoy never expected that he had just grabbed a lucrative job again and made some money by trading tribute to the Ming Dynasty, but in the blink of an eye, he lost his family!
I have no idea what my wife and children are doing now!
And he, a relaxed and happy tribute envoy, turned into an envoy for help!
At the request of Shi Xing, the Left Vice Minister of the Ministry of War, and seeing that the vassal state of Korea was urgently seeking help, the Wanli Emperor, who had a desire to protect it, issued an order to Liaodong Town.

He ordered the two troops previously deployed on guard at the Yalu River to cross the river and attack Pyongyang with the cooperation of the North Korean troops.

Then guerrilla Shi Ru led more than 2,000 troops and deputy general Zu Chengxun led more than 3,000 troops across the Yalu River, joined forces with Korean troops, and marched towards Pyongyang occupied by Japanese pirates.

Among the Ming border troops, Liaodong Town has the most combat experience in recent years, and these 5,000 soldiers are elite troops selected from Liaodong Town.

With 5,000 elite soldiers with sufficient horses, the emperor and his ministers believed that the soldiers were basically able to roam the foreign countries, except for not being able to go deep into the desert.

After the two armies entered the court, Shi Xing, the left vice minister of the Ministry of War, secretly visited Lu Guangzu, the left censor-in-chief, to seek support.

Shi Xing explained: "Fight a small battle first, then negotiate peace. Fight quickly and negotiate quickly, so that the Japanese pirates will voluntarily withdraw from Korea. This is a way to save money and effort."

Lu Guangzu agreed, "The national economy is in a difficult situation now. If we can reach a peace agreement at the right time and reduce expenses, it will be a blessing for the court."

Shi Xing also responded to Lu Guangzu and said, "We cannot allow some people to deliberately engage in militarism and use it to gather power."

Lu Guangzu denounced: "Some treacherous officials have been fighting in the northwest for a year, and after tasting the sweetness, they can't stop! This time they want to repeat the same tricks, how can we sit back and watch?"

One of these two people needed to quickly resolve the North Korean issue in order to break Lin Tailai's suppression; the other needed to try his best to exclude Lin Tailai and weaken his power, so it was easy to reach cooperation.

Half a month later, in mid-June, battle reports came from Liaodong.

Due to various reasons, the two Ming armies that crossed the river suffered disastrous defeats, and even General Shi Ru was killed in the attack on Pyongyang.

Upon hearing the news of this tragic defeat, the government and the public were shocked again!

The court could not accept the fact that 5,000 elite troops suffered a disastrous defeat in just half a month.

What kind of enemy could quickly defeat the 5,000 elite soldiers of the well-prepared Ming Dynasty?

If it were the Northern Tartars, it would be impossible to do it without an army of more than 20,000, right?
At this point, many people can't help but think of another question: How many Japanese pirates were there who invaded Korea this time?

The most infuriating thing is that even the Kingdom of Korea, which was almost destroyed, still can’t clearly count the number of Japanese soldiers. It’s so terrible!
Shi Xing, the left vice minister of the Ministry of War, who advocated "limited combat" and the strategy of "quick fight and quick peace", was completely confused.

Lu Guangzu, the Left Censor-in-Chief who supported Minister Shi, felt that he had been cheated again!

First there was Yin Zhuoran, then there was Shi Xing, why are all my teammates so useless!

Many people recalled what Lu Guangzu had said during the last court meeting.

But at this time, Lu Guangzu locked himself in, claiming to be ill and refusing to see guests, so no one could contact Lu Guangzu.

So the Minister of War Ye Mengxiong submitted another memorial, recommending the appointment of Lin Tailai to be specifically responsible for the management of Korea.

It was already summer, and Mr. Lin, who was still in Suzhou, suddenly felt that his summer collection of poems needed to be updated.

So he held an elegant gathering in the spacious and cool Humble Administrator's Garden, and dozens of celebrities attended.

Mr. Lin stood by the water, his hands behind his back, and chanted slowly:
"The fragrant lotus and clear water move in the cool breeze, the water moves in the cool breeze and the summer is long. The long summer day is cool and the breeze moves the water, the cool breeze moves the water and the clear lotus is fragrant."

"Good!" Everyone applauded immediately and then racked their brains to think about what was good about it.

Why is this quatrain a bit like a tongue twister? How should we praise it? Mr. Lin really gave everyone a difficult question.

At this moment, another officer rushed over and shouted, "The imperial court has sent an edict to Suzhou, urgently summoning Mr. Lin to return to Beijing without delay!"

Lin Tailai sighed deeply and said to everyone, "I didn't expect that after just a short while of being together with you all, I have to say goodbye again.

At this moment, I can only express my feelings with a poem by my martial arts teacher Qi Shaobao. "

Then he chanted again: "I galloped north and south to report my master's love, and the moon smiled at the flowers on the riverside. Three hundred and sixty days a year, I was on horseback most of the time."

Everyone thought to themselves, ever since Mr. Lin won the top prize in the imperial examination, it has been a long time since he mentioned Mr. Qi, right?
Today, I suddenly mentioned Qi Shaobao again. It seems that there is a deep metaphor behind it.

With Mr. Lin's encouragement and hard work over the past six months, Wang Shiwu, Madam Fan, and Huang Wuniang all became pregnant again, and Secretary Bai also became pregnant with her first child.

But in the face of national affairs, Mr. Lin, who was urgently summoned, could only quickly pack his luggage, bid farewell to his parents, wives and concubines, and head north with three hundred servants who were well prepared.

Among these three hundred servants, sixty were veterans who had actually fought on the battlefield, and the other two hundred and forty were newcomers who were following in the training.

(End of this chapter)