The most reckless man in the Ming Dynasty.

Chapter 337: The Chief Inspector's Border Patrol
Zhu Houzhao had nothing to do, so he simply came to the Dongguanting camp.

After all, it was because of the news from the grassland that made Emperor Zhengde unable to sleep or eat.

That little Mongolian prince was about to unify the grassland, but he, the emperor of the Ming Dynasty, was still fighting with the gentry. Zhu Houzhao felt extremely bad when he thought of this.

He called Yang Tinghe, and the teacher and student had an in-depth conversation.

Today is different from the past. In the past, the Ming Dynasty could close its doors and fight for power and bully others.

But now a unified Mongolian force is about to emerge, which is just like the Oirat ruled by Yesen. If it is not handled properly, it is very likely that the Ming Dynasty will suffer another civil disaster!
"Your Majesty, we should strengthen the border defense."

"The border has been stable recently. Except for the important towns such as Xuanfu and Datong facing Mongolia, the other border generals are lazy and often deceive their superiors and subordinates. The court should send a large number of imperial censors to inspect and rectify their unhealthy practices."

"Now that the Mongolian prince is about to unify the grasslands, the border is unstable and the military preparations at the passes are in chaos. I suggest that the court send imperial censors to each pass to coordinate the defense and rectify border affairs!"

This was the result of discussions among the civil officials last night.

The shocking news from the grassland completely awakened the entire Ming Dynasty.

Not only the Emperor Zhu Houzhao, but also the civil officials and gentry who are now in charge of various departments and temples in the court.

After Yang Tinghe left the court, he immediately found important officials of the court such as Wang Ao, Yang Yiqing, and Fei Hong to discuss how to deal with this matter.

His Majesty the Emperor is worried about losing the country and its people, while the civil officials are worried about losing their base.

The basic support of civil officials and gentry lies in a stable court. Only when the court operates normally and stably will it be in line with their vested interests.

Therefore, the little Mongolian prince must be on guard!

After discussion, the ministers came up with this idea.

It is also customary for imperial censors to patrol the border.

Most of those border generals were domineering, and corruption, bribery and withholding of military pay were commonplace.

It would be fine on normal days, the court could turn a blind eye, after all, they still had to guard the border. But now the situation is completely different, these border generals must be made vigilant and be ready to welcome the Mongolian prince's army heading south!
Zhu Houzhao frowned, not very fond of this proposal.

"I remember that in the past, when the imperial censors patrolled the border, there were a few with tough personalities, and they ended up uncovering some long-standing problems. But there were more cases where they had friction with the generals guarding the border, causing many public cases."

"At this critical juncture, we are still counting on the border generals to defend our country. Are you civil officials and gentry still trying to take advantage of this opportunity to suppress the military meritorious service?"

Yang Tinghe's face almost turned green, how could someone defame someone's innocence out of thin air?

"Your Majesty, please understand that the Imperial Censors patrol the border and assist in the garrison in order to improve the defense."

"To put it bluntly, they are just looking for trouble. Those generals guarding the border are living a comfortable life, and suddenly an imperial envoy comes out of nowhere and wants to find fault with them and investigate their accounts. Naturally, conflicts will break out between the two sides!"

His words surprised Zhu Houzhao. He didn't expect that Yang Tinghe had also started to "keep pace with the times"!
"Master Yang means that the Imperial Censor is a dragon that has crossed the river, while the Border General is a local snake. One wants to maintain stability, while the other wants to make a difference. When the two fight, conflicts will naturally arise?"

"Your Majesty is wise!" Yang Tinghe flattered him lightly.

The imperial censors who patrol the borders and the generals who guard the borders are almost like dragons from across the river and local snakes.

Although Zhu Houzhao's metaphor is a bit vulgar, it directly hits the point.

"But the problem is that this is not what the court wants to see. It's fine if we can't unite as one when a war is about to break out, but we're still fighting each other. When the little Mongolian prince goes south, we'll just surrender and admit defeat!"

This is just a joke.

"Your Majesty, the generals guarding the borders are from the military, they deceive their superiors, deduct military pay, and use soldiers as slaves... These are common things. Now the court has sent a large number of imperial censors to inspect, which is intended to rectify the unhealthy trends. It is normal to have conflicts."

"In my opinion, the reason is that although the censors are patrolling on behalf of the imperial court, the border generals have been arrogant for a long time, so how can they accept this? If we want to solve this problem, we need to send capable officials from the capital to patrol various places and make decisions on the spot."

Zhu Houzhao glanced at Yang Tinghe. It was clear that his words were an attempt to flatter the general guarding the border.

But the problem is that what Yang Tinghe said was true.

The border generals guarding the Ming Dynasty today are indeed very different from those in the early years of the Ming Dynasty and during the Yongle period.

Eating empty salaries, neglecting training, withholding military pay and enslaving soldiers... those were common occurrences.

What's even more outrageous is that it is not uncommon for them to misappropriate garrison troops for personal gain and use them to benefit their generals.

The Ming Dynasty's border defenses have been in disrepair for a long time. During the Hongzhi period, the entire border defense was even more appalling!
From east to west, the entire border was beaten like dogs by the Mongolian Tartars. The Ming army was powerless to resist, and descriptions such as "unable to defend", "being taken captive", and "feeling ashamed" were everywhere.

Those so-called great victories were either the imperial court trying to flatter itself or the border generals killing innocent people to claim credit. Others might not know about them, but Zhu Houzhao knew it.

For example, in the first month of the twelfth year of the Hongzhi reign, the governor of Liaodong reported to the court that he had won three great victories and beheaded 300 people. It seems impressive, doesn't it?
As a result, when this good news reached the court, no one believed it at all!
"The border defenses are exhausted and lack of fighting spirit. In the past, we donated dozens or hundreds of people, but only managed to capture one or two heads!"

"Li Gao is old and sick, and the other garrison commanders are incompetent. How can they accomplish this?"

The civil officials and gentry began to question that the Liaodong government troops were all a bunch of idiots. In the past, they could only behead one or two people for the death of one or two hundred people. How could they achieve such a great victory now? There must be a trick!

Even after a great victory, no one believed it. How could the civil officials and gentry of the court slander others like this?
As a result, the late emperor sent people to investigate and found that it was indeed a fraud.

The Liaodong government troops lured more than 300 men and women from the Taining and Fuyu guards under the pretext of trade, got them drunk, and then killed them, and then reported the victory to the court.

What is this?
To put it nicely, it is a trap to kill, to put it bluntly, it is killing innocent people for the sake of credit!
They tricked people into killing them out of no reason, provoked border conflicts, and caused resentment, yet they still had the nerve to report a victory. This is the character of the Liaodong government troops, it is simply a great shame!
During the entire Hongzhi period, the Ming Dynasty fought very few battles that were effective in resisting the Northern Tartars, and only won three or four major victories. The "Helan Mountain Victory" of Wang Yue, which was often praised by the gentry, only resulted in 42 beheadings.

The remaining battles are not worth mentioning. In most of the invasions, the relevant garrison personnel would be convicted. Even if they were convicted, the Hongzhi court seemed careless and hardly investigated the reasons in detail or seriously, nor did they think about improvement strategies. They simply fined them or demoted them. In many cases, they were directly "pardoned" and ordered to kill the enemy while serving their sentence.

As a result, Wang Ao, who was the Minister of Personnel at the time, could not help but submit a memorial saying, "In recent years, border officials who falsely reported their merits have been promoted and rewarded, while those who lost the battle and violated discipline are often ordered to kill the enemy while guilty. This is why people's morale has been weakened and border defenses have been lax." The court did not take it seriously, did not supervise strictly, and did not take any action. Although the merits were rewarded, the crimes were not punished. In such an atmosphere, the border garrison officers and soldiers were of course redundant and were only responding to the war in vain.

After more than a decade of laissez-faire, the Northern Tartars became more and more arrogant, heading south from time to time to plunder and kill countless people. On the contrary, the Ming border troops became more and more decadent and weak, only knowing how to hide in the Great Wall fortresses, not even daring to fight back. They were extremely afraid of the Tartars and had no morale at all!

Therefore, it is not entirely the civil officials who are throwing mud at the military generals. The real reason for the slackness of border defenses cannot be blamed entirely on the generals guarding the borders. The imperial court should bear the main responsibility!
Zhu Houzhao sighed and said, "Master Yang is right. With the overall situation at hand, I don't have the energy to deal with these mutual attacks and trivial matters."

"If we need to select a capable and important official to patrol the border, does Master Yang have any suitable candidates?"

"Left Censor-in-Chief, Fei Hong!" Yang Tinghe gave the answer without hesitation.

When it comes to finding a capable and important official who can control those arrogant border generals, there is no better candidate than the Chief Censor of the Censorate.

Zhu Houzhao was also a little frightened. He looked at Yang Tinghe and fell into deep thought.

Are the civil officials and gentry trying to...show goodwill?

It was extremely rare in the past for the Chief Censor of the Censorate to personally patrol the border for the sake of the overall situation!
However, with dozens of passes along the border, it is such a big issue that to take charge of the overall situation, an important official with both strength and prestige must come forward.

It is not yet as the barbarians say, that military officials have to perform obeisance when meeting civil officials. Therefore, today's military generals, especially those on the frontiers, have not yet shed the arrogance and arrogance of the early years of the dynasty.

Therefore, to be responsible for this matter, someone at the level of Nine Ministers must come forward, otherwise it will not be able to be suppressed.

According to the court's previous rules, the highest-ranking censor on field inspections was the Right Censor-in-Chief.

Although the Right Censor-in-Chief was not a court official, he was also a person of high power and influence. The next level up was the Nine Ministers, so naturally, it was not an official position that could be granted casually.

"General Fei has a righteous character and outstanding abilities. He will personally patrol the border and rectify border affairs. No matter how arrogant those border generals are, I think they will not dare to go against General Fei. Then the border will be stable!"

Yang Tinghe spoke again and gave his explanation.

Things have developed to this point, and civil officials and gentry must also begin to consider the overall situation.

Fei Hong, the Left Censor-in-Chief, personally patrolled the border and rectified border affairs, which also allowed His Majesty the Emperor to see the responsibility and commitment of civil officials!
"I will give it some thought and discuss this matter later!"

Zhu Houzhao saw Tang Hao, so he didn't rush to agree to this matter.

Upon learning that the Emperor was coming in person, Tang Hao had no choice but to rush to welcome him with Qiu Yue, Wang Qiong and others.

"Alright, alright, I'm just taking a walk, no need to be so polite!"

Zhu Houzhao helped Tang Hao up, and noticed that An Guo and Wang Qiong were still there, so he immediately asked, "Why haven't you two ministers left for your posts?"

"Lord Tang said there is a magical infrastructure tool!" Wang Qiong answered honestly.

"Divine weapon?" Zhu Houzhao's eyes suddenly lit up. "What good thing is this?"

Yang Tinghe was also full of curiosity. It really is better to arrive at the right time than to arrive early!

Tang Hao was too lazy to explain and just waved his hand.

"Let's go and see it together!"

(End of this chapter)