The First Gongsheng of Ming Dynasty

Liaodong, Fushun City.

With the end of wars in southern Liaoning and other places, troops from all directions were gathering in Fushun. There were more than 40,000 regular troops of the Ming Dynasty stationed around Fushun City, plus local garrisons, totaling more than 60,000 troops.

This does not include the logistics supply personnel recruited for the war.

The Liaodong Governor Yang Yiqing was not in Fushun. He first led his men to retreat to Shenyang Zhongwei. The person with the highest say in decision-making in Fushun City was the garrison eunuch Zhang Yong, followed by Cui Yuan, the Marquis of Jingshan, who was ordered by the emperor to lead troops. Below him were a series of generals including Zhang Heling and Zhang Yanling.

After a heavy snowfall at the end of February, there was no more movement of troops advancing into Fushun City, and troops from all sides gathered here, as if waiting for the snow to melt.

The public security in the city had become extremely poor, with soldiers harassing civilians frequently. Even the situation within dozens of miles around Fushun was not much better.

Cui Yuan finally received a reply from Yang Yiqing that day. He was immediately disappointed and hurried to find Zhang Yong to discuss the matter.

Zhang Yong knew what happened when he saw Cui Yuan's bitter face: "My Lord, could it be that Yang Zhongcheng has rejected the request for grain transfer again?"

Cui Yuan said with a sad face: "If this continues, the food and grass will be cut off. The troops will have trouble even eating, not to mention fighting. There is already chaos in the city. If the food and grass problem is not solved, the next step is likely to be robbing the people's property."

Zhang Yong waved his hands helplessly and said, "There's no point in getting anxious. We are short of food here, and in fact Liaodong is also short of food. This war is still incomprehensible. The court clearly sent us to Liaodong to fight the Jurchens, but there were many delays in rationing, and even insufficient transportation. The batch of food that was previously transported from the sea... is now exhausted."

Cui Yuan sat there, looking a little dazed, and said, "This battle was personally supervised by Duke Cai, and was ordered by His Majesty. How could this happen? Duke Cai would not fight a battle he is not sure of winning."

"Haha." Zhang Yong laughed, "Duke Cai is not a god after all. You see, our situation is not good now, but I don't know that there are people who are worse off than us. How is the situation of the Ji Liao General?"

"he……"

Cui Yuan thought of Tang Yin and suddenly felt sympathy for him.

If the lack of food and supplies on their side was bad enough, then the situation on Tang Yin's side could not be described as bad, it was simply a catastrophe.

Zhang Yong sighed, "I don't understand it either. We were well prepared at the beginning, so why did we run out of food and grass halfway through the battle?"

Cui Yuan asked: "Should we ask His Majesty to temporarily end the war and wait for food and supplies to arrive before fighting again?"

"Not appropriate." Zhang Yong said, "Now the whole court is watching us. The war in Liaodong is not going well, and even the local troops in Liaodong have suffered a setback in Jianzhouwei. This is a big deal. If we can't open up this road, Minister Tang's troops will not be able to withdraw! By then, they may be completely wiped out."

Cui Yuan said: "He led the Korean army, even if the whole army was wiped out, it would not be a big deal."

Zhang Yongyi raised his hand and said, "Don't say that. After all, Korea is our vassal state, and its people are our people. And there are Tang Yin and many Ming soldiers on the way. If they are killed, we can't bear the responsibility."

Cui Yuan said helplessly: "How can we lead troops out of Fushun in this situation? We couldn't get in before. The terrain there is too complicated. The Jurchens don't stay in one place. They are all hiding in the mountains and forests. If we send troops in, they will either set an ambush or attack at night. It's impossible to move forward."

Zhang Yong said: "Even the battle-hardened Yang Yiqing suffered a loss, so our situation is not much better. What's more, you have those two under your command..."

That's half the story.

I just didn't have the nerve to say that you, as the head coach, can't do anything alone. Who made you have the funny brothers Zhang Heling and Zhang Yanling under your command?
Rely on the two of them to lead the troops to fight?
You can go take a shower and go to bed.

……

……

Cui Yuan could not continue his advance as he could not get any food or fodder supplies.

What followed was a transfer order from the imperial court.

On this day, Zhang Yong specially invited Cui Yuan over. Cui Yuan was still puzzled when Zhang Yong handed him an imperial edict. After reading it, Cui Yuan was shocked.

"What does this mean? Minister Tang... transferred Sanbian to be the general governor? How... is this possible?"

When Cui Yuan saw the transfer order concerning Tang Yin, he was a little overwhelmed.

It would be reasonable to transfer anyone, but why would they transfer Tang Yin, who is still out of contact? Is this a problem for us? We need to find him and let him take up the post in the northwest?
Zhang Yong said: "Right Deputy Censor-in-Chief, General Commander of Three Borders, and Right Vice Minister of the Ministry of Revenue, do you know what this means? After he arrives in the northwest, he can almost take charge of food and supplies, and being the General Commander of Three Borders means that his rank is above many governors and governors-general, which means that he can make the decisions in the northwest alone."

Cui Yuan nodded and said, "I know what this position means, but... where can we find the person?"

Zhang Yong said: "This is not the point, it's this."

As he spoke, Zhang Yong took out another imperial edict.

After Cui Yuan read it, he was already fidgeting. He asked hurriedly, "What does this mean?"

Zhang Yong said, "Your Majesty wants us to report the latest situation in Liaodong truthfully. We have to report, and so does Yang Yiqing, the Liaodong governor. My understanding is that Your Majesty and Duke Cai are already aware of the troubles we have encountered in Liaodong, and the main problem is the lack of military supplies. This is to let us report on our own and tell the court the difficulties, so that Your Majesty can take action."

Cui Yuan shook his head and said, "I don't quite understand."

Zhang Yong said with a meaningful look: "Do you know what it means that a crying child gets milk? Now we are facing all kinds of difficulties. If we can't even cry, then we can only wait to die here. I seem to understand why the Duke of Cai would fight such an ill-prepared war. This is to give him bargaining chips to deal with the people in the court. This makes it easier for him to take the Ministry of Revenue into his own hands."

"No way?" Cui Yuan asked puzzled.

"How could that be? Do you have a more profound insight?" Zhang Yong frowned.

You are a general who was born as a royal consort and has no political thinking at all, and yet you dare to refute me?
Cui Yuan said: "From what I have seen, the Duke of Cai cares about the country and the people. He will not use the lives of the soldiers as bargaining chips to negotiate with the ministers in the court. He must have encountered some difficulties now."

Zhang Yong sighed, "Don't you think about it? Now the Ministry of Revenue is not in his hands. He planned such a war but did not prepare enough food and grass. The responsibility is not entirely his. It is the Ministry of Revenue that deliberately set traps for the soldiers and caused trouble. In fact, it is not his fault."

Cui Yuan continued to shake his head and said, "I still don't believe that Duke Cai would use these means. He must have fought this battle to completely pacify the Jurchens."

Zhang Yong felt like vomiting blood when faced with such a fellow.

You are still the little fanboy of Duke Cai, who always speaks in his favor in everything! You are really unexpected.

Zhang Yong said: "Now that your majesty wants us to cry, we should cry louder and describe the situation here as tragic. Only in this way can we have a chance to get our food and grass back, and the war can go on. This memorial should be written by you, Marquis of Jingshan. Our family is helping you, which means that this is a joint memorial between us." ...

……

The capital, the imperial palace, the Palace of Heavenly Purity.

That day, Chen Kuan received a memorial from Liaodong. It was not the memorial from Fushun about "crying poor", but just an ordinary military report.

Chen Kuan felt that the matter was of great importance, so he hurried to the Qianqing Palace and handed the memorial to Zhu Youtang. Zhu Youtang took it, looked at it, and put it aside.

Chen Kuan was puzzled and said, "Your Majesty, the war in Liaodong has not made any progress. I'm afraid this is not a solution."

Zhu Youtang said: "Why is there no progress? Haven't the unrest in the people's lives in southern and western Liaoning, etc., been resolved? This battle has actually met my expectations."

"what?"

Chen Kuan never expected this either.

He really wanted to ask, Your Majesty, are our aspirations so low now?

You sent tens of thousands of troops, claiming to be 200,000, saying that you would wipe out the Tatars in one fell swoop. But in the end, only Tang Yin's troops penetrated deep into the heart of the Jurchens, while Yang Yiqing and other troops were all defeated. And you still say that your expectations were achieved?
We can't comfort ourselves like this.

Zhu Youtang looked up at Chen Kuan and said, "You seem to have some objections?"

Chen Kuan said hurriedly, "I dare not. I just feel that the losses in this battle are too great. If we don't achieve some results, people in the court will inevitably make irresponsible remarks."

Zhu Youtang said, "If they want to speak, let them speak! This has happened more than once or twice! When have they not first been self-righteous, as if they had found a reason to criticize Bingkuan and the generals of the border army, and then every time they knew the deeper meaning behind it, they kept silent? Many times, they are too short-sighted."

Chen Kuan said: "But if we give up the battle in Liaodong like this, all our previous preparations will be wasted."

"Really?" Zhu Youtang looked at Chen Kuan and asked, "How do you know it's all in vain?"

Having said this, Zhu Youtang picked up the memorial that he had placed aside.

Then he wrote a paragraph on it.

Chen Kuan was even more curious. Did the emperor make such a stubborn decision? What was the decision?
"Since they can't keep up with the food and grass, let's retreat first. It's spring planting time in Liaodong soon. The new grain crops cannot be grown in Yongping Prefecture alone. Liaodong also needs help. Since they don't have enough food and grass, let them farm on their own. Do some farming work." Zhu Youtang said.

Chen Kuan was simply shocked by the emperor's thinking.

If there is a shortage of food during the war, then just farm on the spot?

I've heard of people digging wells on the spot, but I've never heard of people planting crops on the spot. How could they do it in time? Not to mention waiting for the crops to be harvested, I'm afraid the farmers would starve to death before the crops were even planted.

Zhu Youtang said: "This war is supposed to be a war of attrition, a protracted war. If they don't farm on the spot, what else can they do?"

Chen Kuan said, "Your Majesty, the Jurchens are incompetent and cannot compare to the Mongols. Why don't you send them all out to eliminate the hidden dangers at once? If things drag on for too long, I'm afraid the soldiers will become resentful, which will be detrimental to the stability of the army's morale."

At this time, Chen Kuan was purely thinking about the emperor and the Ming Dynasty.

It was obvious that the Jurchens had no ability to resist, and they had already been severely damaged in the previous battle. This time we should press on to win and solve the problem in one fell swoop with tremendous force.

How could the powerful party choose to slow down the war and fight a protracted war on its own initiative?
Even if we have to fight a protracted war, shouldn't we occupy the Jurchens' territory first?
Zhu Youtang sighed: "Even your vision is so narrow."

Chen Kuan looked ashamed, but he still didn't think he had done anything wrong.

Because logically, this doesn't make sense. It seems as if the emperor knew that there were problems in the Liaodong war, but he was trying to save face and find excuses to convince himself to accept the idea of ​​a protracted war.

Zhu Youtang seemed to open up at this time and asked, "Do you know why we have to use Koreans as the vanguard in this battle?"

Chen Kuan said: "Because they are originally foreign countries, this is to use foreigners to control foreigners."

"That's not right," Zhu Youtang said, "but it does make sense. Now that the Koreans are in the Jurchen territory, although they haven't achieved much, it's clear that both sides are short of soldiers and food."

Chen Kuan asked curiously, "Your Majesty, could it be that the situation over there among the Jurchens is not good either?"

Zhu Youtang nodded and said, "Last year, when they were harvesting grain, we sent troops to fight. At that time, we mainly used fire to burn the crops, which resulted in insufficient grain harvest. Then there was the protracted war this winter. How could the Jurchens have so much grain in stock?"

Chen Kuan said: "If the Jurchens are running low on food, this is a good time for us to send troops to destroy them."

"No." Zhu Youtang said, "They don't have enough food and grass, and can't hold out for long. If we use our main force to attack them now, they still have some strength left. Isn't this asking for trouble?"

Chen Kuan thought about it and found that this logic made sense.

"But, Your Majesty, a centipede is still alive even after death," said Chen Kuan.

"Haha." Zhu Youtang stood up, smiled and stretched, saying, "That's right, they are still alive and well, and their fighting power is still there. If they want to fight against our Liaodong soldiers, do they have a chance of winning?"

"No, but this requires stationing a large number of troops in Liaodong." Chen Kuan seemed to have grasped some key points.

"Isn't that right? They can't gain any advantage from Liaodong, so what should they do? Just wait to die? They will definitely develop in another direction. They can't gain any advantage by fighting against the imperial court, but some people are soft persimmons in their eyes." Zhu Youtang said.

Chen Kuan almost blurted out: "North Korea?"

Zhu Youtang nodded and said, "Now you understand why we have to use the Koreans as the vanguard and why I am not in a hurry to send out the rest of the troops to fight them, right?"

Chen Kuan was completely confused by this series of thoughts.

Zhu Youtang said: "Even if they fight, there is no need to rush to solve the issue of the Jurchens. We should wait until they are both defeated. Of course, this is only an ideal situation. Now Liaodong has both the people and the land. Let's plant the new crops in Liaodong first. I have discussed with Bingkuan many border towns suitable for self-sufficiency, and finally chose Liaodong. After all, transporting money and food to Liaodong is also the most time-consuming and labor-intensive. With this incident, Liaodong can become the most stable town in the Ming Dynasty in the future." (End of this chapter)