golden scales

Tianjin Sanwei originally had a low status, and was an out-and-out "little brother" in front of many important towns near Gyeonggi.Until the Wanli period, because of Japan's aggression against Korea, the bad memory of the "Japanese plague" was awakened in the Ming Dynasty.

Zhao Zhigao, a scholar at the time, analyzed the situation very thoroughly. He said: "The Japanese cannot invade China in the north, but rely on Joseon Quan and Qing to defend us. If Quanqing dies, North Korea will surely fall. Once North Korea falls, then The Japanese did not invade the Liao Dynasty from the land, but they would divide their troops from the Eastern Han, Linjin, Qingchuan, Dading, Datong, and Yalu rivers. All the southeast coasts are in danger of approaching, and this is a big problem now. Therefore, Quan, Qing The soldiers must be garrisoned, and even the coastal frontier guards should take precautions."

"Tianjin Beigong Shenjing, Nantong Canal, the meeting of boats and boats, the field of canopies, and the ducks and greens can be reached in three days." , North Zhuangshenjing, Dongzhang Island. This is the most indispensable for internal defense."

When Zhu Cihong read this file in the palace, he couldn't help but be amazed by it.When so many people in later generations questioned the meaning of the Korean War, they did not expect that as early as the Wanli era, the princes of the court had already realized the meaning that North Korea was actually a screen domain of China.

For this reason, Tianjin has established a governor and a general soldier, but it is not a local governor, but a special governor-the Tianjin coastal defense governor.Wanshi Dejia, the chief envoy of Shandong Province, was appointed as the imperial envoy of Youqiandu of the Metropolitan Procuratorate, and the governor of Tianjin Denglai Coastal Defense Affairs.And because North Korea's national strength was weak, it was unable to support the food and pay of the Ming army entering the dynasty, so Wan Shide and the subsequent governor of Tianjin devoted themselves to reclaiming farmland and expanded the scope of their powers to civil affairs.

In the 27th year of Wanli, the Korean Japanese Insurgency subsided, and the governor of Tianjin moved to Baoding. Until the first year of Tianqi, Jiannu occupied Liaoyang, and the four prefectures of Jin, Fu, Hai, and Gai were all owned by Jiannu.These four states are really a distance away from Tianjin, and they can be reached in two days with a smooth sail.As the throat of the north and the south, Tianjin is the hub of water and land freight transport in western Liaoning, and it is also the food supply place for the Eastern Army, so it is necessary to have important ministers and governors.

"My minister is the second year of Tianqi. As the Shaoqing of Guanglu Temple, I was moved to the imperial envoy of Youqin Capital, and the governor of Tianjin." Li Banghua revisited his hometown, and he couldn't help but sigh with emotion.He received the letter from Zhu Cihong in central Beijing, and rushed to Tianjin regardless of the bumpy car and horses. Seeing that the crown prince was safe and sound, sitting in the palace, with Wu Yan, Sun Chuanting, Cai Maode and others by his side, he finally felt more at ease.

Zhu Cilang said with a smile: "Jinmen is indeed a strategically important place, but it is also a place that cannot be defended. We just take the sea route from here."

"Your Highness is going to Jiangnan?" Li Banghua asked curiously.

"Shandong." Zhu Cihong said: "Zhou Yingqi was originally the chief envoy of Shandong, and now he has returned to Laizhou by boat to settle down."

"Your Highness came from Shanxi, why don't you go to Shandong by land?" Li Banghua was puzzled.

Zhu Cihong said: "Your father and mother are still in the land of eggs, how can you go alone?"

Li Banghua thought for a while, looked around at the courtiers in the East Palace, saw that they were silent, and said leisurely: "Your Highness, you have heard that death is more important than Mount Tai, or lighter than a feather."

Sima Qian's "Bao Ren An Shu" is simply an entry-level reading nowadays.

"Your Majesty is burdened with nine tripods, and he can only insist on the righteousness of death." Li Banghua said calmly: "Nowadays, the country is in danger, and people's hearts are in danger. If the emperor is the master of China, he should guard China; if he is the parents of Zhaomin, he should care for Zhaomin; The owner of the temple, Chan, will be the Temple of Weiling. Zhou Ping and Zhao Gao's schemes are not suitable to hear about."

"Hehe," Wu Yan said with a free and easy smile, "Xiantai's words are wrong. If it hadn't been for Zhou Ping's eastward move, the Zhou family would have had the state for the next 400 years? If it wasn't for Song Gao's south crossing, how could there be a recovery of martial arts? Since it is today's Zhao Dynasty, Since you should rest with the people, how can you lightly talk about it as a feather on Mount Tai?"

Zhu Cihong knew that Li Banghua's strengths were impartiality and morality. Although he had a good vision, he was not a good debater.He interjected: "There must be someone in the court who holds this theory. I don't know why the emperor didn't take it?"

Seeing that Zhu Cilang changed the topic, Li Banghua also knew the meaning of His Royal Highness's maneuvering, so he still said slowly: "The emperor did not take the proposal of moving south, nor did he take the proposal of sticking to it."

"Huh? That's puzzling."

Li Banghua said helplessly: "The emperor hopes that the cabinet ministers will make a decision. However, the old gentlemen of the cabinet are not willing. First, if they insist on moving south and are left to guard Yanjing, wouldn't it be clear that the city will die and die? ?Secondly, if you are lucky enough to drive south with you, it may be even worse. If you live and die with Shenjing, you can still get a gift. Which of the cabinet ministers is willing to do such a thing that has a hundred harms but no benefit?"

Zhu Cihong shook his head slightly, and thought to himself: Royal father is doing it right now.Ming Qian Gang has been arbitrarily assertive for 17 years. When encountering such a major problem, he expects others to take the blame. He cares about his reputation and wants benefits. How can there be such a good person in the cabinet?

He suddenly thought of Tian Cunshan.After being educated, this guy has been trying to take the blame for himself, and looking at it now, he is really indispensable.

In contrast, the eunuch is indeed too cute.

"It's not just about moving to the south." Li Banghua took a sip of tea and continued: "The prince and the second king, Ding and Yong, went south to supervise the country, and it's the same with the feudal clan. Some people compared His Highness with Tang Suzong Li Heng's self-establishment as emperor, which made it difficult for His Majesty. The officials are even more unwilling to take responsibility for the decision."

During the Anshi Rebellion, Li Hengling Wu ascended the throne and proclaimed himself emperor, respecting Tang Minghuang Li Longji as the Supreme Emperor.Li Longji himself didn't mind this matter very much. Not only did he help his son make up the Zen seat formalities, he also ordered the other princes to go to Lingwu to obey the new emperor's order.However, as his own father, he didn't care, but the emperors of later generations would be very taboo, and he had to be on guard against his own adult son, lest he suddenly become the overlord one day.

Zhu Cilang took a deep breath and spit out two words: "Stupid."

Li Banghua smiled and said: "There is also the matter of transferring Liao Town to enter the customs!" His smile was inevitably bitter, and he said to the crown prince in detail: "Sacred Heart originally wanted to transfer Wu Sangui to the capital to defend the capital. However, my soldier Zhang Jinyan In the words: "The tune of Sangui is not tuned, it depends on Ningyuan's abandonment." Chen Yan, the chief assistant, preached everywhere that "one inch of mountains and rivers is one inch of gold". Ningyuan's three hundred miles of land must not be abandoned lightly! The matter of entering Beijing is still undecided."

Zhu Cihong couldn't help but patted the table, frowned and said: "The emperor is really... ahem, even if a minister dares to say about the matter of abandoning the soil, as long as he agrees, the history books will still say how much the emperor ordered to abandon the soil... Is it still true?" Will you name and say that the minister deceived the holy will!"

Abandoning the country is a scapegoat that can never be thrown away. Why is it necessary for the minister to bear such a big question of right and wrong?

"Wait, transfer Wu Sangui to the capital? Will he be willing?" Zhu Cihong was a little surprised: "I heard that Shanhaiguan to Guangning are all private properties of the Wu family. How could he abandon his private property and join the Baojing Division?"

Li Banghua said: "I don't know about this minister. Thinking of Wu Sangui's early years, he also had the reputation of 'bravely crowning the three armies, filially hearing the nine sides', and he should know that the overall situation is the most important thing."

Although Wu Sangui had a history of running away and causing Hong Chengchou to be captured, he also had a heroic moment of rushing into the camp of 28 slaves on [-] horses to rescue his father Wu Xiang.Zhu Cihong's impression of Wu Sangui was still influenced by later generations, and he had preconceptions that he was not a loyal minister and brave general.

"Well, Your Highness, Wu Xiang has arrived in Yanjing recently and was ordered to supervise the Beijing camp. The decision will be issued in these two days." Li Banghua said.

It was only after Zhu Cihong arrived in Tianjin that he lamented the pain of inconvenient transportation in this era.Over there, Bai Guangen has already become Li Zicheng's Taoyuan uncle, and the silver seal of appointing Bai Guangen as "General of the Bandit" in Yanjing was sent out; Shandong only reported the Tang newspaper of the "rogue" entering the bandit, and received a call for the general of Shandong Bing Liu Zeqing King Qin's edict.

I'm afraid that if Emperor Chongzhen made a decision, it would be too late for Wu Sangui to fly back to Yanjing.

……

Chongzhen sat in the Hall of Martial Heroes, and asked the white-haired general in front of him, "How many soldiers are there between Qing and his son?"

The white-haired general was Wu Xiang who returned to Beijing from Shanhaiguan, the father of Wu Sangui.Knowing that bragging is absolutely forbidden at this time, he quickly kowtowed and replied: "The crime of the minister is ten thousand! The minister's soldiers are 3 according to the book, and [-] have been verified. Because it takes the food and wages of several soldiers to support one soldier, this is the common practice of all parties." Disadvantages don’t start with closing doors.”

Chongzhen still had a glimmer of hope: "Are these 3 people brave and good at fighting?"

Wu Xiang's heart trembled, he resorted to his ability in business, and retreated: "If 3 people are soldiers, how can we wait for success today? There are only [-] soldiers available."

Chongzhen only felt itching in the back molars, and asked, "How can 3000 people resist a million people?"

Wu Xiang evasively said, "These three thousand soldiers are not ordinary soldiers, but the sons of Chen Xiang and the brothers of Sangui! Since receiving the state's favor, I only eat coarse grains, and the 3000 people eat fine wine and fat sheep; The servants only wear coarse cloth, and 3000 people wear silk and satin! Therefore, they can gain death power!"

Chongzhen swallowed hard: "How much money do you need?"

"million!"

"Millions!" Chongzhen took a deep breath: "Millions of pay, even if you raise [-] soldiers, you won't need it!"

"One million taels of silver is still too little." Wu Xiang hurriedly settled the accounts for the emperor: "These 100 people have farms worth several hundred taels of silver outside the customs. Now that they are abandoning the customs, what land compensation will be given to them? The salary is already low. It has been issued for fourteen months, what is the supplementary application? There are 3000 million people outside the customs, who will enter the customs with them, where will they be placed? According to this calculation, a million is not enough, Chen An dares to speak nonsense?"

According to Wu Xiang's calculation, ten million may not be enough.

However, whether it is tens of millions or millions, it is the same for Chongzhen.

"There is only 7 taels of silver in stock, and if you collect all the gold and silver utensils, I'm afraid you can only make up 20 taels." Chongzhen said helplessly.

Wu Xiang could only sigh, as if lamenting the difficult fate of the country, or lamenting that a good deal won't be done.

Chongzhen returned to the inner palace dumbly, and soon received the news that the prince had arrived in Tianjin.However, his thoughts were all on Guan Ningbing, and he was physically and mentally exhausted with this son who disappointed him. After a long time, he waved his hand and said weakly: "Let him take care of himself." (To be continued.)