The Prosperous Era of Longwan

Xiyuan, Yongshou Palace.

Emperor Jiajing sat high and looked at his ruling team below. More than ten ministers from the Cabinet, the Six Ministries and the Six Ministries and the Supervisory Council stood with their hands bowed. At this time, only Nie Bao, the Minister of the Ministry of War, and Fang Rui, the Minister of the Ministry of Households, stood. Arguing in the middle.

Nie Bao analyzed the enemy warning that the Xuanfu once again exerted and the actions that the court should take, while Fang Pui explained that the Ministry of Revenue was currently facing difficulties in raising money and food, and was unable to support Xu Shangshu's war preparation plan.

Well, the battle is actually about money and food.

Nie Bao's analysis of An'An's movements was actually known to everyone when they walked into the Yongshou Palace. The focus was actually on the final response, how to prevent the An'An's invasion.

According to Nie Bao's plan, the entire North Zhili garrison was to be mobilized to press forward. The Jizhen army was to be dispatched to reinforce various passes along the Great Wall. Even if it encountered an attack by the Anta troops, it would be delayed until the North Zhili reinforcements arrived at the garrison. .

But the problem is, how to defend the entire Great Wall with dozens of passes, large and small, for hundreds of miles?

Of the tens of thousands of people in Ji Town, there are only a thousand people left at the pass below. What can they do?

The most important thing is that this time we need to mobilize more than 100,000 men and horses from most of the guard posts in the northern Zhili area, and we need to allocate more than 100,000 taels of silver first. Military supplies along the way will also cost a large amount of silver. The Ministry of Revenue is crying for poverty. He shouted that he had no money.

Now Fang Dun and Nie Bao were standing in the hall arguing. One side insisted that so many soldiers must be mobilized to fight in order to withstand the attack of Anda's troops, while the other side insisted that they could not raise so much money and food.

"enough."

While the Ministry of War and the Ministry of Household were arguing with each other, time passed quietly. Emperor Jiajing became impatient and interrupted the two people who were still chattering in the palace.

After speaking, Emperor Jiajing looked at the others. The only ones among the Six Ministries and Nine Ministers who could have anything to do with the war were the Ministry of War and the Ministry of Husbandry. The Ministry of Industry and the Inner Court had already stated that they would prepare sufficient weapons and armor for the army, so it was not involved. Come in.

Look at the Ministers of the Ministry of Justice, the Ministry of Officials and the Ministry of Rites below, as well as the Minister of Dali Temple, the Yushi of Zuodu and others. After entering the Yongshou Palace, they watched their noses and hearts without saying a word, except for what they said when saluting. There was nothing else, and Emperor Jiajing gave up the idea of ​​asking them.

All of them used to be eloquent and debating masters in the court. In the past, even when encountering military conflicts, they would dare to speak out and argue. However, today I heard that the Anta Division may make a surprise attack from the Great Wall Pass. , and then everyone became honest.

It seems that a few years ago, it was the same situation.

Emperor Jiajing unconsciously fell into memories. It was the 29th year of Jiajing. After his hard work in governing the country, the Ming Dynasty had developed and prospered. If it hadn't been for constant natural disasters, the Ming Dynasty at that time would have far exceeded its previous peak national power and achieved a sea of ​​achievements. Yan Heqing, the prosperous scene of peace and prosperity for the country and the people.

But in August of that year, the Mongolian Anta tribe, which he had never taken seriously, suddenly invaded. Although there had been constant fighting on the border wall before, after all, it was just a small fight that could not affect the overall situation, but that time it was really He was completely embarrassed.

Tens of thousands of Mongolians were able to raid the vicinity of the capital, burn, kill and loot, but the border troops who thought they could fight were intimidated by the enemy.

In the beginning, the ministers in these positions were able to speak impassionedly and harshly, and one of them could equal the strength of a million soldiers. However, after the Tatars invaded Huairou and Shunyi, they all pretended to be deaf and mute and no longer dared to speak out. , how similar to the behavior of these people now.

The original group of people changed a lot, but I didn’t expect that the current group is still like this.

In deep disappointment, Emperor Jiajing looked at the cabinet members on his left.

"What's the cabinet's opinion? Let's talk about it."

There are currently three ministers in the cabinet, namely Yan Song, the richest man, Xu Jie, the second assistant, and Lu Ben, the third assistant.

Originally, Lu Ben was supposed to be the second assistant, but in the past two years, his health has been failing, so he has less to do. Xu Jie became the second person in the cabinet. Today's matter is very important, so he is here too.

Apparently the cabinet had already made a plan before. After Xu Jie and Lu Ben looked at each other, they then looked at Yan Song who was standing at the front. He was still standing there calmly and had no intention of standing up and speaking.

After many years of tacit understanding, Xu Jie knew that this was the plan that Yan Song asked him to discuss before the cabinet came.

Without much hesitation, Xu Jie stood up and bowed to Emperor Jiajing above before saying: "Your Majesty, after the cabinet received the news, our cabinet discussed it and believed that the current financial resources of the imperial court cannot support the mobilization of large armies to participate. To the Great Wall defense line.

Therefore, it is recommended that on the one hand, the army of the guards should be summoned to train diligently and be ready for war at any time, and on the other hand, the ministers of the imperial court should be sent out to inspect the border passes and urge the local guards to strengthen their vigilance.

At the same time, an order was also issued to order Xuanfu and Datong Border Town to dispatch troops to the defense to reinforce Ji Town at any time to prevent Anta's troops from breaking through Guancheng and harassing the surrounding areas of Gyeonggi. "

After Xu Jie finished stating the cabinet's opinions, he bowed and retreated. The rest depends on the emperor's attitude.

However, according to past practice, for such military and national events, the emperor would consider the opinions given by the Ministry of War more. After all, it is the yamen prepared for war. No matter what the final result is, the Ministry of War must bear the final responsibility.

"What does the Ministry of War think? What do other ministries have to say?"

Emperor Jiajing accepted the cabinet's opinion after thinking for a while, but still asked other people's opinions.

As a result of Nie Bao's initial discussions with the Ministry of War, as can be seen from the urgent report sent by the Xuanfu, the Anbao Ministry planned to repeat the old trick and raid the capital again. For the sake of safety, he formulated a plan to mobilize a large number of surrounding guards to participate in the war. He hoped that Taking advantage of the high mountains in the north that severely weakened the Mongolian cavalry advantage, the Anta tribe was severely damaged, so that they would no longer dare to think of invading the south.

As for the imperial court's lack of money to mobilize the army, this is not within the scope of the Ministry of War's consideration.

In the war, they will get credit if they win. If they lose, they will go into the field in embarrassment. The choice is still very simple.

The Ministry of Household Affairs blocked them from implementing the agreed plan on the grounds that they had no money. In fact, it only relieved the Ministry of War a little bit of responsibility, but it was not of much help. Therefore, Nie Bao did not intend to give in and insisted on arguing with Fang Dui in the main hall, hoping to get With the support of Emperor Jiajing, he suppressed the Ministry of Household Affairs.

According to Nie Bao and his left and right ministers' deductions, as long as the Jizhen army can drag the Tatars in the mountains, with the continuous arrival of guards from the surrounding areas, even if it is an encirclement and annihilation, it is not impossible to capture An Da alive. This is Such great achievements can eliminate the chance of humiliation caused by the "Gengxu Revolution".

However, just now, after Xu Jie expressed the opinions of the cabinet, it was clear that Emperor Jiajing's attitude changed. He had no intention of fighting according to the ideas of the Ministry of War. Perhaps he had little confidence in the combat power of the Ming army. other.

However, for the benefit of the Ministry of War, Fang Blun still planned to take a gamble.

"His Majesty."

Fang Blun stood up again, first saluted Emperor Jiajing and then said: "It is feasible to send border patrol ministers, but this will not solve the immediate crisis at all. It has been several days since our Anda tribe left Xuanfu. Counting the time, I'm afraid they are already looking for weak points in the Great Wall passes between Xuanfu and Jizhen, and are preparing to launch a surprise attack.

At this time, apart from mobilizing the Jizhen army for emergency reinforcements, it is difficult to ensure the stability of the border wall before this. Even if the border patrol ministers are gone, there are not enough defenders on the Great Wall pass to defend against the Tatar attack. "

"But the Ministry of Revenue cannot mobilize money and food, and the mobilization of the army requires a lot of money, so how can we solve it?"

Emperor Jiajing asked with a frown.

When he was arguing with Fang Rui, the Minister of the Ministry of Finance, he understood what the Ministry of War was planning, but he didn't dare to bet.

A few years ago, Emperor Jiajing was still blind, so he knew exactly what it was like when the Xuan Da border troops returned to defend the capital.

Although some personnel adjustments have been made in recent years, the foundation of the Guard Army is rotten, and we cannot expect it to undergo fundamental changes in the short term.

The guard station was now something that even he, the emperor, was afraid of.

He did not investigate clearly how his cousin died, but how Liu Jin died was very clear.

Emperor Zhengde liked martial arts, so Liu Jin wanted to clear the land of his father's guard station and revive the military strength of the guard station. Then he was joined by two forces above the court, the Civil Service Group and the Xungui Group, which had not much contact with each other. Done.

The things Liu Jin did before only affected the civil servants and did not have much impact on the Xungui Group. In the end, the civil servants still relied on the imperial power. Even though their influence spread all over the world and they could influence the government, they still lacked the knife. .

After Liu Jin affected the interests of the civil servant group, he chose to commit suicide by relying on Zhengde's favor and support to affect the interests of the Xungui group. In the end, both parties joined forces to kill him.

Well, Emperor Jiajing didn't like this kind of guard house, but he didn't want to mess with it, it was too troublesome.

If you obtain the art of immortality and have enough time, you can also consider how to slowly deal with these cancers.

Emperor Jiajing was already disappointed with the millions of Ming troops on paper, so he did not think that according to the plan of the Ministry of War, the Anda tribe could be wiped out in the high mountains.

The most worrying thing is that he will not be rushed out and killed under the walls of the capital when the time comes. He has no troops to mobilize. That is the most dangerous situation.

After Emperor Jiajing finished speaking, Nie Bao fell silent.

"Does anyone else have any opinions? Tell them."

Emperor Jiajing saw Nie Bao being silent and asked the others.

"I respectfully request your Majesty's Holy Judgment."

There was a tacit understanding, and the other five ministers and ministers did not say much and returned the ball.

"Is there a candidate for the Border Patrol Minister in the cabinet?"

Seeing other people, there was no other way. Emperor Jiajing had no other choice at this time and could only consider the opinions of the cabinet.

At this time, Xu Jie stood up again and said loudly: "The cabinet recommends Weng Pu, the right minister of the Ministry of War. Weng Pu has served in many places and has made many achievements in the system. He even proposed to take charge of the affairs of King Yiyang's Ningguo Mansion. Suggestion, now all the eight Ning Mansion families have no objections.

Since being transferred to the Ministry of War, he has also been diligent in royal affairs. Last year, he reorganized the Beijing Camp and restored the three major battalions to combat effectiveness. Weng Shilang is very good at military and civil affairs. This border patrol will not only urge the border troops to strengthen their combat readiness, but also solve problems. Due to some local conflicts, the cabinet believed that he could take on the important task of patrolling the border. "

"Xu Shangshu, do you have anyone to choose?"

Emperor Jiajing did not give an answer immediately, but asked Nie Bao for his opinion.

"I have no objection."

Nie Bao just bowed his head and said.

"What about you? Do you have a candidate for Border Patrol Minister?"

Emperor Jiajing frowned slightly, and then asked others if there were any candidates for him to choose from.

"I have no objection."

What I was waiting for was still the neat answer.

Emperor Jiajing looked at them and then at the cabinet ministers. At this time, they all bowed their heads and waited for him to make the final decision. Although he had the power in his hands, he did not feel that the world was in his hands.

"Draw up the decree. Weng Pu, the right minister of the Jin Ministry of War, has the title of censor of the right capital of the Imperial Palace, and will inspect Jizhen and Xuanda."

In the end, Emperor Jiajing agreed with the cabinet's opinion. Although Weng Pu had no experience in personally leading troops to fight, he did serve as a landlord official for many times and visited Huguang and Jiangxi.

It has been more than two years since I was transferred to the Ministry of War, so I should be able to do it in terms of experience.

After finishing speaking, Emperor Jiajing inadvertently looked at a crumpled calligraphy work on the side of the desk. There were only four words on it, and they were all written in cursive script. It was not a work by a famous artist. In fact, it came from the paper It can be seen from the crumpling that the person who wrote it did not take it seriously. After writing, he crumpled it into a ball and threw it away.

"It's rare to be confused."

Emperor Jiajing recited it silently in his heart, looked at the ministers, and then turned to look at the words again.

The writing is not brilliant, but what Emperor Jiajing saw in these words was a way of doing things. Facing all the troubles in the world, he might as well treat them with a relaxed and tolerant attitude.

At this time, Emperor Jiajing no longer had the disdain he had when the calligraphy was first sent to him, and suddenly realized the deeper connotation of this calligraphy.

"Isn't this the way that boy wants to be an official?"

Emperor Jiajing was still carefully comprehending the rich philosophy of this calligraphy, and such an idea came to his mind for no reason.

It's a cunning way to wander around the officialdom based on this principle. I just hope that "rarely confused" will not turn into "irresponsible and irresponsible".

Thinking of this, Emperor Jiajing glanced at the room of ministers again, but none of them had been to the battlefield in person. He stood up suddenly and said again: "Wei Guangde, who was promoted to a commoner in the Hanlin Academy, reviewed for the Hanlin Academy, and was the deputy patrol envoy, along with Weng Pu. Patrol along the Great Wall.”

As soon as he received the emperor's order, Xu Jie sat down behind the writing desk. He picked up the brush on the pen holder and dipped it into the inkstone. The ink inside had already been ground by the waiter. Without thinking, Xu Jie wrote the imperial edict that he had already prepared into the edict. After a while, Emperor Jiajing saw that there were no problems, and he could be approved immediately by the Supervisor of Ceremonies, and sent out by the Military Affairs Department on duty.

Just when Xu Jie was writing furiously, he suddenly heard Emperor Jiajing's decree again and was stunned. However, he did not dare to delay at this time and wanted to write the edict in one go.

"Your Majesty, Wei Guangde ordered him to be appointed as a reviewer only two months after entering the Imperial Academy. This is not in line with the ancestral system. At least he must wait until the academy is dismissed."

Everyone else was wondering in their hearts what kind of bad luck this Wei Guangde and Wei Chuanlu had, to be so favored by the emperor, and Jane was in the emperor's heart. Yan Song, who had always been quiet before, frowned inadvertently, but one person had already stood up to oppose it. .

Emperor Jiajing glanced at Wu Shan. As the Minister of Rites, he was indeed qualified to speak out against the decision he had just made.

However, now that the decision has been made, will it be changed?