Jingtai Fengyun: The First Absurd Emperor of Ming Dynasty

Chapter 629: Requesting the withdrawal of troops. Important ministers challenge the crown prince to show his talents and defend his father.
Early on the morning of June [-]th, North Korean military reports reached Beijing.

Luo Tong, Minister of War, was shocked and speechless by this hot military report.The Ming army suffered nearly 12 casualties in the battle, and the Japanese and North Korean coalition forces estimated that they suffered more than [-] casualties.

Luo Tong only felt his scalp numb: in the battle of Yanghekou, 10,000 people were killed; in the battle of Yao'erling, [-] people were killed; in the battle of Tumubao, [-]+ were killed.

After the emperor came to power, in the war with Oara, 10,000+ people died in total; in the war to eradicate the Miao rebellion, 10,000+ people died in total; plus the war in Korea, another [-] people died Sixty thousand.

This is too terrible, which means that the main Ming army that was orthodox 14 years ago is almost dead.

Now the Shaanxi-Gansu border army has become the only remaining main force from the past.

The Shaanxi-Gansu frontier army had a very prosperous life. They mobilized the heroic cavalry battalion composed of frontier troops, the emperor returned the three Ganzhou guards to King Su, and Cao Guogong's newly formed Ganzhou cavalry, these are all the best of the best.

Then there are the Yingzhou Guard, Tiance Guard, Duoyan Guard, Jing'an Guard, Zhancheng Guard, and Xinyi Guard formed by the emperor.With a total of more than 20 people, this is a rising star of the Jingtai Dynasty.

Luo Tong summed it up: about 50 of the old troops of the Zhengtong Dynasty died, and about 30 of the new troops of the Jingtai Dynasty emerged.

In just seven years, the replacement has been completely completed, which is horrifying to think about.

Fortunately, these responsibilities did not need to be borne by the Minister of War. General Luo Tong made a copy of the report and forwarded it to the cabinet, and then quickly sent the original to Ganquan Palace.

Zhu Qiyu had just finished his meal and was leaning on the couch drinking tea when the military report came in.

After seeing the military report, Zhu Qiyu himself scratched his head: "What on earth are Jiang Yuan and Fang Ying doing? Didn't I mobilize another [-] troops to support them? In the blink of an eye, I killed them all.

That’s it, there’s no need to cut taxes this year, just use the money for post-war pensions.

Hey, wait for me to change my clothes. I'll go to Qingyun Pavilion and wait. After a while, the ministers will come to ask questions. "

The beloved concubines asked worriedly: "Husband, is it serious? Do you want to order your personal guards to surround Ganquan Palace?"

"No, I have spent so much effort to attack North Korea. People have long been dissatisfied and have been waiting for an attack. Call Brother Fang and let him see how the ministers resisted the emperor. Let him see what happened. How difficult is it for the emperor?

Oh, let someone call An Guogong, Ding Guogong, Wu Dinghou, and Wu Anhou to attend the court meeting together. "

The ministers arrived soon, but they waited for another hour before several nobles arrived.

Everyone was waiting impatiently in Qingyun Pavilion, and Zhu Qiyu just showed up.

After not seeing the emperor for more than half a year, everyone still patiently paid him a grand tribute.

Zhu Qiyu waved his hand: "No need to be polite, just sit down. No need to gossip, let's talk about military affairs directly."

Wei Ji, the second assistant and the Minister of the Ministry of Revenue, was the first to stand up: "Your Majesty, the Ministry of Revenue is really short of money and food. Now we have to transport food and grass thousands of miles to the front line, and we also have to pay for the casualties.

If the war cannot be ended quickly, civil unrest may occur. "

Xue Xuan also stood up and echoed: "Since the Holy Emperor ascended the throne, he has expanded the territory and conquered enough land. He has just annexed the Champa Kingdom.

Just ruling these lands would keep the court busy for decades.

The land in North Korea is barren and the population is sparse. What will happen if it is conquered? "

Zhu Qiyu shook his head and didn't say much.

It makes no sense to reason with everyone in Neo-Confucianism.

Cheng-Zhu Neo-Confucianism was originally a study of debate, not a study of enriching a country and strengthening its army.

Starting from their ancestors Cheng Yi and Zhu Xi, they have never lost a debate or won a war.

When I brag, I wish I could brag to the sky, but if I really let these people run the country, they won't be able to run it.

Moreover, Wei Ji and Xue Xuan are not ministers of Conglong. If they resign, Zhu Qiyu will not feel very embarrassed.In Qingyun Pavilion, the atmosphere fell into embarrassment. No other ministers answered, and the emperor just remained silent.

Zhu Qiyu took a sip of tea, then turned to look at his son.

The younger prince, Zhu Wenfang, was both smart and quiet. He was sitting there upright, neither talking nor moving.

Zhu Qiyu asked: "Brother Fang, can you understand what the two important ministers just said?"

Zhu Wenfang nodded affirmatively.

When the important ministers saw this, they all had their own thoughts.The prince in front of me is already six years old. What does this mean?The orthodox emperor succeeded to the throne at the age of ten. Based on this experience, in just four years, the Jingtai family will completely occupy the throne.

By then, even if something unexpected happens to the emperor today, the ten-year-old crown prince will be able to succeed to the throne.

Thinking of this, the minister who had originally been opposed to it was unwilling to stand up easily.

Zhu Qiyu continued to ask: "Brother Fang, tell me why you want to attack North Korea and Japan?"

Zhu Wenfang replied: "In the previous Central Plains dynasties, threats mainly came from the north. And the east is the sea. At most, there were some Japanese pirates intrusion, which was not a climate and could not threaten the political power.

But things are fickle. As warships get bigger and bigger, and artillery becomes more powerful, sooner or later, a powerful country will be able to threaten our Ming Dynasty with a powerful navy.

Out of the motive of nipping at the last minute and nipping the enemy in the cradle, his father wanted to seize all the dangerous points overseas of the Ming Dynasty and block the enemy's navy from the country.

At the same time, by capturing Korea, Japan, Annam, Champa, Siam, Manchuria, Majapahit, Sumatra and other countries, the entire trade route can be controlled.

Once overseas trade flourished, foreign wealth would continuously flow into the Ming Dynasty.In the Ming Dynasty, both the common people and the gentry became increasingly wealthy.

At the same time, overseas countries also had fertile soil and developed it to become the granary of the Ming Dynasty.When disaster strikes our homeland, more resources can be allocated for disaster relief.

Overseas countries also have various mineral deposits and special products that we need. Luchuan and Mengyang, which my father conquered, have huge amounts of copper and iron ore, which can be used to mint money, make weapons, and make agricultural tools; The conquered Annan has thousands of miles of fertile fields, and rice there can be harvested three times a year.

The Burma that my father conquered has teak wood, which can be used to build the strongest warships; the Japan that my father is about to capture has a large number of silver mines. Once these silver mines are owned by the Ming Dynasty, they can mine at least 300 million taels of silver for the imperial court every year. .

You know, not counting food, cotton, silk and other physical goods, the Ming Dynasty's annual income in silver is only about 300 million taels, which is probably not enough.

North Korea and Japan now have a population of about 300 million. After we occupy them, we can rest with the people and encourage farming. It only takes two or three generations to multiply the population to more than 2000 million.

In the last years of Orthodoxy, the total population of the Ming Dynasty was only 6000 million. With more than 2000 million people added to pay taxes and serve the court, the national power of the Ming Dynasty will be greatly enhanced, and the burden of the people in the mainland will also be greatly reduced.

Therefore, attacking North Korea and Japan will benefit the country and its people.Although you suffer for a moment, you can achieve eternal success, so why not do it. "

The ministers were all stunned. The little prince, who was only six years old and had a childish tone, spoke five to six hundred words in one breath. He was clear and coherent, even though He Yi taught the prince step by step and asked him to memorize it.

But being able to speak out in front of so many important officials of the imperial court without any stage fright or cadence is already very, very impressive.

Everyone had to re-examine Zhu Wenfang: as long as the emperor's mind is right, the current crown prince Zhu Jianshen will definitely be deposed.

As for the prince in front of him, as long as there is no health problem, he must be the undisputed candidate for the crown prince, that is, the next emperor of the Ming Dynasty.

Wu Dinghou Guo Chang is Zhu Wenfang's grandfather; An Guogong Xu Heng's granddaughter has been officially engaged to Zhu Wenfang, and will be the next crown princess and queen as expected; Wu'an Hou Liu Chang is Zhu Wenfang's master and is responsible for teaching the prince to practice martial arts .

These people represent nobles and generals, and have an inseparable interest relationship with Zhu Wenfang.

Moreover, the emperor has recently been forming the Shenshu Camp, which is somewhat similar to Emperor Taizong's practice of selecting young troops to form the avant-garde of the imperial army for the Xuan Temple.

The generals of the emperor's army are scrambling to send their sons to Shenshu Camp in order to establish a stable relationship with Zhu Wenfang as emperor and minister.

However, the Shenshu Camp has six guards under its jurisdiction. Anyone with a discerning eye can see that this is not to establish the six guards of the East Palace for Zhu Wenfang according to the standards of the prince.

(End of this chapter)