Chongzhen revived the Ming Dynasty

Chapter 129 Liaodong Protector

The status of the military guardian was equal to that of the governor, and the emperor clearly handed over the civil affairs of the governor of Liaodong to the military guardian of Liaodong, so the ministers were naturally selected according to the governor's specifications.

Because the Military Guard is a military position, the Ministry of War proposes candidates. Yuan Keli, Minister of the Ministry of War, said:
"Ning Qian has prepared his troops and is self-restrained. He has outstanding political achievements and is familiar with Liaodong affairs."

"The former governor of Liaodong, Yu Anxing, was dismissed because the governor of Liaodong was dismissed."

"Dong Yingju, the former Minister of Household Affairs, once managed the affairs from Tianjin to Shanhai and achieved remarkable results."

"All three of them can serve as Liaodong military envoys."

Zhu Youjian was not familiar with these people and thought there was nothing wrong with them. He immediately ordered:
"Yu Anxing and Dong Ying were reinstated and listed as candidates for governor and minister."

"The envoy of the Liaodong Protectorate was selected from among the three of them."

The ministers thought for a while and felt that with so many changes in Liaodong, it was necessary to retain someone familiar with the affairs. After Ting Tuining completed his military preparations, he served as the military envoy to Liaodong.

Bi Zisu was a Jinshi in the 44th year of Wanli and was Bi Ziyan's younger brother. Thinking that Bi Ziyan would be able to cooperate better with him after he came to Beijing to take charge of the household department, Zhu Youjian ordered:
"The post of Liaodong Protector's Envoy will be held by Bi Zisu."

"The Ningqian military department he appointed will not be established in the future, and will be replaced by the captain of the military guard, who will be under the direct jurisdiction of the Liaodong military envoy."

"How many Wu Jinshi are there in Liaodong? Choose them as captains of the army to assist the army envoy Bi Zisu."

The ministers looked at each other and were not very willing to let Wu Jinshi enter the army guard system.

However, there are so many guard officer positions that it is impossible to use all civil servants, and there are not so many civil servants willing to serve as guard captains.

As for Yin Guan, they may be willing. But if you use Yin Guan's words, the ministers in the court will probably be scolded to death, saying that as ministers, they only think about their own children.

In the end, the ministers decided to follow the emperor's wishes and select a few Wu Jinshi to serve.

Yuan Keli didn't pay much attention to Wu Jinshi. After thinking for a while, he came up with a few names and said:
"Pingliao Commander-in-Chief Zhao Lijiao was born as a martial arts scholar and has made many military exploits."

"The former Commander-in-Chief of Ping Liao and General Gu Ping Liao, Yin Ma Shilong, is also a martial arts graduate and can serve as a guard."

"The former commander-in-chief of Jizhen, Sun Zushou, was also a martial arts graduate. When he was ordered to aid Liao, he was ordered to return to defense by Liaodong Economic Strategy Gaodi. Therefore, he was impeached and did not dare to fight, and was dismissed from his post."

"When Sun Zushou was in charge of garrison at Guguan, he opened a school in addition to training troops. When the Liaodong army was defeated, he went out to recruit defeated troops. This person has many merits and can be reinstated."

I really couldn’t think of many names of Wu Jinshi, so Yuan Keli recommended:

"Your Majesty should not exclusively use military Jinshi. Sun Yuanhua, who has made great contributions to the military affairs department of Liaodong, and Mao Yuanyi, the deputy commander of Liaodong Zanhua and the Ministry of War, can all serve as military guards."

Zhu Youjian nodded slightly and didn't care about it. The most important thing now is to set a precedent and confirm the rules for Wu Jinshi to serve as the guard captain, so he ordered:
"Zhao Lijiao and Ma Shilong are generals. They will be appointed after Sun Chengzong takes office. The positions will be discussed later."

"Sun Zushou returned to the position of Captain of the Mountain and Sea Guards. He directly assisted Bi Zisu, the Liaodong Guards envoy, and coordinated the defense of the Great Wall with Wang Zhichen, the Great Wall Guards envoy."

"Sun Yuanhua and Mao Yuanyi had many meritorious services in the past. They were specially awarded Yuanshi origins and served as captains of the Ningyuan and Jinzhou guard armies."

After appointing three people, Zhu Youjian added:

"These positions are only roughly agreed upon now. We will rehabilitate all the people first and confirm them after Sun Chengzong takes office." "In the future, the Liaodong army will be divided into several divisions, several general soldiers will be set up, and several guard captains will be set up."

"Yuan Qing and Superintendent Sun agreed that the positions of Protector School Lieutenant and other positions below the Protector Commander should be selected from among Wu Jinshi, Wenyin Military Officer, and Imperial College Students."

In this way, the three guard captains used one as a martial arts scholar and two as special imperial scholars. All the ministers thought it was acceptable, and the emperor would not use it if there were no non-martial scholars. The practice of selecting the Guarding Captain and Guarding School Lieutenant from among Wu Jinshi, Wenyin Wuzhi, and Imperial College Students has been established.

Then there is the Liaodong Admiral, the deputy of the Liaodong Governor. This is a military position separated from the "Governor Liaodong local area to support military affairs". In theory, it is equivalent to the governor.

However, Zhu Youjian did not let the officials recommend him, but said:
"For the post of Admiral of Liaodong, Sun Chengzong should be selected from among the generals."

"In the past, he used the title of General Pingliao to be responsible for Liaodong's military affairs, but the post of Pingliao General was indiscriminately established."

"From now on, we will confirm that a member of the Liaodong Admiral will be the deputy of the Liaodong Governor and can control the general army."

"Let Sun Chengzong recommend whoever takes up this position."

The Admiral of Liaodong is the second-ranking figure in Liaodong in the emperor's setting and is also the direct person in charge of the frontline war. For such an important position to be recommended by Sun Chengzong, it can be described as a great trust. The emperor took great pains to unify his powers and responsibilities.

Yuan Keli was sweating in his heart, knowing that since the emperor had given such great trust, if Sun Chengzong did not do well, it would be difficult for him to remain in office safely in the future. He could only hope that this old friend could shoulder the heavy responsibility.

However, his worries were a bit unnecessary. Zhu Youjian's biggest expectation for Sun Chengzong was to sort out Liaodong. As for recovering Liaodong and so on, I have no expectations at all.

After all, in Zhu Youjian's opinion, civil servants leading troops were just that. It would be good to reach the level of Zeng Guofan and Zhu Xieyuan, but we cannot expect to have talents like Zhuge Liang and Wang Yangming.

"Strengthen the stronghold and fight stupidly" is also a tactic. If you can do this well, you will be considered qualified. Yue Fei once said, "Fight in formation and then fight, the art of war is normal", and the higher level "The beauty of application lies in one mind", but there are no requirements anymore.

Therefore, the task Zhu Youjian gave Sun Chengzong was to guard Shanhaiguan. He was not allowed to attack on a large scale and achieve great defeats like Han Qi, Xia Song, and Yang Hao.

This was the biggest task he gave Sun Chengzong, and it was also his highest expectation for the civil servants and supervisors.

This is the view on civil servants, but what about using military commanders instead? Zhu Youjian once considered it and found that it was even more unfeasible.

Not to mention that today's Ming Dynasty does not have talents like Qi Jiguang, even with the current status of the Ming Dynasty generals, they are not enough to serve as commander-in-chief.

The most likely consequence of a military general serving as commander-in-chief is that he will not get the cooperation of civil servants, or even deliberately cause harm. Once something goes wrong in a key battle, it will affect the overall situation of the Ming Dynasty.

Therefore, the commander-in-chief talents trained by Zhu Youjian are civil servants such as Lu Xiangsheng and Sun Chuanting. It is expected that a few of them will be able to take on important responsibilities in the future.

Thinking of the tactic of "building a stronghold and fighting a dull war", Zhu Youjian said:
"The terms of the martial law order are already being formulated. I have planned to designate the area outside the customs as a war zone and implement partial martial law."

"During the period of martial law, I authorize the Liaodong Governor, Liaodong Admiral, and Liaodong Army Protector to assume great power with military and political orders, all for the purpose of quelling the war."

"As long as the three of them agree, they can decide on any affairs in the war zone."

"If the generals of the Military Code of the Ming Dynasty do not adhere to this provision, it will be temporarily abolished in the war zone."

(End of this chapter)