"It's almost a big deal. It was a mistake made by a few yellow-mouthed scholars, which led to this!"
With a sad look on his face, Yang Sichang sat dejectedly on the chair in the middle hall. Thinking of everything that happened during the day, he couldn't help but sigh.
Nowadays, the South is invading the North, and the country is exhausted. As Minister of War, he knows better than anyone how difficult the current situation is.
After taking up the post of Minister of War, Yang Sichang truly understood what kind of situation the Ming Dynasty was in now.
A huge burden was piled on him, and various matters piled up for him to make decisions. He had just passed the age of destiny, but most of the beard and hair on Yang Sichang's face had turned gray.
Those hypocritical courtiers only think about fighting for power and gain.
Those who say they are loyal to the emperor and patriotic are actually just profit-seeking people!
"False talk wastes work, fluffy words hinder important matters, empty talk harms the country, and it really harms people!"
Chen Xinjia was sitting on the right, his expression was quite angry at this time, and his brows were as sad as Yang Sichang's, and he said in a hateful voice.
What he said had a slight Sichuan accent. He was originally from Changshou, Sichuan. He left his hometown to become an official after winning the imperial examination as a young man. Although many years have passed, his local accent is still hard to change.
Chen Xinjia has an upright face, narrow eyes and long eyebrows. He is over forty. He is knowledgeable in literature and knows about foreign affairs. He has served as an official in Liaodong for many years.
On April 18 this year, Lu Xiangsheng's father, Lu Guofei, passed away on his way back home after visiting Lu Xiangsheng in Yanghe.
In May, when Lu Xiangsheng learned that his father had died, he was so heartbroken that he went to Qishu to ask Ding You to keep the order.
Now the acting governor of Xuan is Chen Xinjia. Chen Xinjia was originally the governor of Xuanfu. This time he took the position on the recommendation of Yang Sichang.
The reason why Chen Xinjia is in the capital is precisely because of the peace talks.
Yang Sichang was in charge of the interior, while Chen Xinjia and Fang Yizao, the governor of Liaodong, were in charge of the exterior.
But now, peace talks have become impossible.
"The northern bandits and the south bandits are all causing trouble..."
Yang Sichang lowered his head slightly and held his forehead with his hands, unable to conceal his fatigue between his brows.
"Autumn is approaching, and the peace talks have been shattered. The Jiannu tribes will definitely be ready to move, and they will most likely look for opportunities to enter again. You are now in charge of the important town of Xuanda in place of Lu Jiandou. You must be careful to prevent the Jiannu from entering again."
Yang Sichang looked haggard and looked at the city and the border wall on the map.
The peace talks with Jiannu were actually just a stopgap measure. The biggest reason why the current national situation is so critical is that the forces are too scattered and cannot be held together at all.
The turmoil caused by rogue bandits in the pass has restrained too many soldiers and too many provinces.
Those rogue bandits did not engage in production, but plundered everywhere and destroyed every place they visited.
Now Shaanxi, Henan, South Zhili and other places have been greatly damaged, and tax revenues have also been reduced a lot.
This makes the already difficult financial situation even worse.
Chen Xinjia saw Yang Sichang's frown, thought for a moment, and changed the topic.
"The situation in the south seems to be improving. I heard that Mr. Hong Heng and Sun Baigu joined forces to annihilate Chuang Ni and annihilate him in Long'an Mansion?"
When Yang Sichang mentioned the situation in the south, his frown relaxed, and he spoke with a smile on his face.
"The two great victories in Mianzhou and Jiangyou resulted in the capture of more than 8,000 heads and nearly 60,000 prisoners. The rest dispersed and fled into the mountains of northern Sichuan."
"Although the thief chief Li Zicheng escaped, his troops were either surrendered or killed. The number of those who escaped was reported to be only a few thousand."
"Old Hong Heng has now led his troops back to Shaanxi. Now Fu Yunzhong has taken over northern Sichuan. Hou Liangzhu remains in Long'an Mansion and is organizing the extermination of the remnants of the intruders."
Although the three-month deadline for pacifying the bandits has passed, it is a good thing to be able to exterminate the bandits no matter what.
In fact, Yang Sichang himself knew that it was too much to force the thieves in March, but he didn't have many options. The country was in a difficult situation now, and the emperor was a little anxious.
In order to win the emperor's support, he had to do some things that he couldn't help himself.
"Hou Liangzhu is here
, Li Zicheng should not be able to cause any trouble. "
Chen Xinjia looked slightly relaxed. He didn't know much about the situation in the mainland.
Not long after he took over as the governor of Xuanda, he was already so busy with the internal affairs of Xuanda that he had no extra energy to take care of anything else.
Hou Liangzhu once conquered and captured She Chongming, An Bangyan and their accomplices Mo De, Yang Zuo, etc., and they were called "Southwestern Wonders" at that time.
As long as Hou Liangzhu is here, Sichuan will have absolutely no worries.
"Now most of the banditry in the pass has been calmed down. In the south, only Luo Rucai and He Yilong are the only ones left who have not yet surrendered."
"Luo Rucai seems to be preparing to go to Shaanxi again, but Mr. Hong Heng has already led his troops back to Xi'an, and Luo Rucai can't make any waves..."
When talking about the situation in the south, Yang Sichang seemed to have remembered something. His expression darkened slightly and he stopped talking for a long time.
Chen Xinjia waited for a long time and never heard Yang Sichang speak again. He thought about it and finally spoke.
"The cabinet..."
Yang Sichang's expression returned to normal again.
All good news came from the south, but he didn't know why he always felt uneasy.
He originally recommended Xiong Wencan because of his talent in military strategy.
But he didn't expect that he had already warned Xiong Wencan in advance that he would focus on suppression and pacify as a supplement.
The two thieves Liu Guoneng and Zhang Xianzhong must be killed and no indulgence is allowed.
However, Xiong Wencan did not listen to his advice and chose to focus on pacification and suppression as a supplement. He also chose to recruit and surrender Liu Guoneng and Zhang Xianzhong without authorization. He even bypassed him during the recruitment and submitted a memorial directly to the emperor. .
The emperor was eager to calm down the internal turmoil and allowed Xiong Wencan's attention, but Yang Sichang had no way to stop it.
Yang Sichang felt depressed. Zhang Xianzhong seemed to have many problems.
The reason why he was more successful in recruiting people seemed to be that he used a lot of money to get through the door. Many people in the court and other places seemed to have received a lot of money.
Zhang Xianzhong's acceptance has become a foregone conclusion.
The emperor didn't even hold him accountable for excavation of Fengyang's tomb, so what could he do to stop the recruitment?
Xiong Wencan mistook Zhang Xianzhong for Zheng Zhilong, but he didn't know that there was a huge difference between Zhang Xianzhong and Zheng Zhilong.
The rogue bandits are extremely cunning, and it is not uncommon for them to surrender and then rebel again. Once Zhang Xianzhong rebels, the good situation in the south will probably disappear in an instant.
"nothing……"
Yang Sichang waved his hand gently, feeling helpless in his heart.
In order to be able to lay a net with four rectangles, six corners and ten sides, he proposed a plan to recruit another 2.8 million in pay and 120,000 troops.
Many people in the court said that he was drinking poison to quench his thirst. Sun Chuanting even went against his wishes unceremoniously, and even wrote a letter bluntly criticizing his strategy.
How could Yang Sichang himself not know whether it was drinking poison to quench his thirst?
But many times, people have no choice.
Even if you know that the glass of wine placed in front of you is poisonous wine, you still have to drink it in order to live a little longer.
Now that the country is in crisis and the local area is suffering, another 2.8 million yuan in taxes has been levied.
Once a large-scale famine occurs again, according to the current national finances, there is no way to provide relief to the victims, and even greater civil unrest will be triggered.
But if we don't collect the 2.8 million yuan in compensation and don't recruit more sergeants, how can we achieve the current situation where most of the rogue bandits have disappeared?
Regarding Sun Chuanting, Yang Sichang felt more helpless.
Sun Chuanting was a talented general. When he first took office, he killed Gao Yingxiang, the king of Chuang, which greatly reduced the morale of the rogue bandits.
But Sun Chuanting is now confronting him tit for tat, making it extremely difficult to implement the plan he wants to implement.
The rest of the people saw that they did not punish Sun Chuanting, and they became more and more wanton.
Yang Sichang closed the booklet on the table. In his current position, there are many things
Love cannot be determined by his will. Many times, everything he does is out of his control.
Sun Chuanting was a loyal minister and a talented general... He wanted to use it, but he couldn't use it, and he couldn't use it...
Originally, Hong Chengchou and Sun Chuanting worked together to eliminate the intruders, and he wanted to give out a sum of gold and silver as a reward.
But now that the treasury is empty and the peace talks have come to nothing, Xuanda and other places have spent most of their money in order to defend themselves against the invasion of slaves.
Asking for money is half as difficult as climbing to the sky.
During this period, Yang Sichang worked hard and finally reached an intention to reconcile with Jiannu, which also moved the emperor.
The internal situation of the Jiannu in the North is not a secret. Although today's Jiannu look fierce, in fact, the internal situation is not much better than that of the Mongolian tribes in the Longqing period.
Like the Mongolian tribes under Anda's rule, the Jiannu were equally strong militarily, but they were not in harmony with each other internally.
[In view of the general environment,
The Eight Kings were implemented within the Jiannu. Although Huang Taiji stole the country and proclaimed himself emperor, and was nominally the leader of the Jiannu, he was also subject to many checks and balances. There were still many forces within the Jiannu that were dissatisfied with his discipline.
All we need to do is follow the example of Anda's tribute tribute during the Longqing period to temporarily stabilize the Jiannu in the north, and then implement a strategy of dividing and attacking, and it won't take long for the Jiannu to be in internal chaos.
Even if Huang Taiji can temporarily stabilize the situation within the ministry, it won't matter. Sooner or later, the Jiannu in the north will have to be dealt with, but at this stage, the real trouble is still internal.
There is not much actual loss at all in opening border markets and blocking names.
Yang Sichang now knows very well what is going on in Jiubian. He has been in charge of the Ministry of War for some time and is familiar with most of the affairs.
Moreover, when his father was still alive as the Governor of the Three Borders, Yang Sichang also heard many secrets from his father. Many businessmen on the Nine Borders were secretly doing business with Mongolia and the Jiannu slaves, and were traitors to the country. fiscal.
Instead of doing this, it is better to directly open up border markets and let the country earn this money. On the contrary, it can also generate an extra income and alleviate the current financial crisis of the country.
It's just that...the Ming Dynasty's court is not his one-word hall after all...
In June, Kong Zhenyun, the chief minister of the cabinet, resigned and was replaced by Liu Yuliang.
In the same month, Yang Sichang was promoted to be the Minister of Rites and a bachelor of Dongge University. He joined the military affairs department and was still in charge of the military affairs, and finally became a cabinet minister.
Although Chongzhen now holds Yang Sichang in high regard, the emperor has yet to speak out on the matter of peace talks.
Yang Sichang tried his best to persuade the emperor to seize the opportunity to negotiate peace with the Qing Dynasty. He repeatedly criticized the ministers for ignoring the situation of the Ministry of War and only making empty words to harm the country. He asked for "the Holy Spirit's approval" and explicitly approved Fang Yizao's secret peace talks with Gao Qi.
But in the end, all the memorials fell into disgrace and did not receive any approval.
Yang Sichang himself presided over the reconciliation, which also aroused fierce criticism from courtiers and led to a large number of impeachments.
Among them, Shao Zhan Shi Huang Daozhou was criticized the most. On the grounds that he had stolen his love and joined the cabinet, he was constantly criticized and impeached. He even called him by name in the memorial and insulted and humiliated him with words such as pig, dog, and human owl.
On July 5th, a few days ago, the emperor summoned the cabinet and ministers to discuss matters on the platform.
As expected, the reconciliation was met with verbal and written criticism from Huang Daozhou, the official of Jing Yanri, and others.
During the platform debate, although the emperor supported him, he also allowed him to win the argument and get rid of impeachment.
But so what if he wins the argument and gets rid of impeachment. That's not what Yang Sichang cares about at all.
The court discussion was fierce, and the emperor backed down and did not express any clear support for the peace talks. The reconciliation matter was nothing, and everything was back to square one.
Yang Sichang rubbed his somewhat swollen head. When he moved his eyes to the map on the table, the pain in his already swollen head involuntarily intensified.
When he was the governor, he had worked with Chen Xinjia for a long time. He knew Chen Xinjia's talents, so he recommended Chen Xinjia.
However, it is difficult for Chen Xinjia to replace Lu Xiangsheng.
Lu Xiangsheng's character is quite stubborn, somewhat similar to Sun Chuanting.
However, Chen Xinjia cannot completely replace Lu Xiangsheng. Chen Xinjia's ability is indeed much inferior to Lu Xiangsheng. Moreover, as a new official, he has too many affairs to deal with and does not know much about his generals and defense lines.
There is no hope of reconciliation now, and autumn is approaching, so Jiannu is afraid that he will look for an opportunity to go south again.
Now that this has almost become a sieve-like nine sides, how can we stop those wolf-like and tiger-like Jiannu armored soldiers?
When the slave-building army marches south, if I cannot solve the problem, my prestige and foundation will surely be shaken...
"well……"
Thousands of words turned into a sigh.
Yang Sichang closed his eyes. The current situation was deteriorating, but everything he had done for so long was in vain.
…
The capital of the Ming Dynasty was noisy, and the peace negotiation with Jiannu failed in the end.
In the north, a consensus has been reached within the Qing Dynasty.
Since the issue of paying tribute and opening borders has come to nothing, it is better to use the sword in hand to speak.
In the eleventh year of Chongzhen, August 23rd.
Huang Taiji appointed Prince Rui Dorgon as the ordered general to command the left-wing army.
Beileyuetuo was the general of Yangwu, commanding the right-wing army, and Beiledudu and others supported him, and fought on both sides.
Yue Tuo destroyed the Great Wall and entered from Qiangziling in the north of Miyun on September 22, while Dorgon destroyed the Great Wall and entered from Qingshan Pass on September 28...
…
"Mr. Zhonglie Huang Shizhai Tao Zhou":
Dao Zhou said: "If I don't say anything today, I will bear your Majesty's responsibility. If your Majesty kills me today, I will bear your Majesty's responsibility."
The emperor said: "You will only become a sycophant after learning all your life!" He scolded and retreated.
Dao Zhou kowtowed, then knelt again and played: "I dare to analyze the word "loyalty".
A lady who is independent and dares to speak out in front of your father is a sycophant. How can you be loyal in front of your father by flattering her? There is no distinction between loyalty and deeds, and evil and right are confused, so how can we cure them?
