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At the Prime Minister's Office located in the imperial city, the four prime ministers appointed by the emperor to stay behind, Wang Xiangqian, Xu Guangqi, Cheng Guoxiang, and Song Yingxing, are worrying.
The emperor actually got along with them and instead of acting according to the original plan, launched a surprise attack.
When they went to the palace to request an audience on the planned day, they discovered that they were horrified for a while.
Fortunately, the British Duke Zhang Weixian told them in time that the emperor had brought five thousand escorts and had successfully left the capital and headed south, so they were relieved.
But Zhang Weixian didn't reveal much. Even they, who had always been important ministers, didn't know the emperor's whereabouts at this time.
In the entire world, only the British Duke knew the emperor's true plans and whereabouts, as well as the specific targets, areas and marching routes that the army wanted to conquer.
But he will not disclose this information to anyone. The events of the last Northern Expedition are still fresh in his mind, and he must not take it lightly.
He is also very self-aware. He knows that the emperor trusts him very much. There is no doubt about this, but it is inevitable that there will be traitors and villains who will cause trouble and play tricks, so he tries to avoid suspicion in everything.
Since the emperor has handed over all military power to him, he no longer participates in political affairs, and rarely even goes to meetings to discuss. Unless it involves border towns and armaments, he will go to understand the situation, otherwise he will not even be the prime minister. I won’t even go to the Yamen.
Although the five of them are all left-behind prime ministers, Wang Xiangqian and others may not see Zhang Weixian for three to five days. They also acquiesce in this. The civil servants have never really looked at the military attache in their hearts.
It should be said that they are always on guard against the rise of military attachés to seize power from them and oppose them.
Even if they are all ministers that the emperor relies on at this time, and they also hold great power, they are no exception.
In the early Ming Dynasty, Emperor Taizu also faced a situation where the civil servants were strong but the military was weak. Although the country was conquered by military attaches, the governance of the country was really inseparable from civil servants.
Even Emperor Taizu was deeply afraid of the two major official and gentry forces at the beginning of the founding of the country.
For this reason, he had to let General Xu Da concurrently serve as the Right Prime Minister of Zhongshu Province, and seize power in an alternative way, making him on an equal footing with Li Shanchang, or even a head above him.
The purpose is to contain civil servant representatives such as Li Shanchang and Liu Bowen.
Li Shanchang joined when he first started his business and had a high status in Zhu Yuanzhang's heart, so he was relatively lucky.
First, he was granted the title of Duke of Xuan and then of South Korea, with an annual salary of four thousand dan. His status ranked first among the Dukes, higher than that of Xu Da.
Zhu Yuanzhang even commended him outright in the edict for his hard work and merit, comparable to Xiao He of the Han Dynasty.
Liu Bowen was not so lucky. He joined halfway. When he came to Zhu Yuanzhang's command, Zhu Yuanzhang had already become powerful and was ready to conquer the world.
Since they had not experienced the hard work of starting a business together, their status in Zhu Yuanzhang's heart was naturally not very good. He was a dispensable role. Of course, this was after he became emperor and stabilized the country.
Compared with Liu Bowen's official gentry group in eastern Zhejiang, the Huaixi group represented by Li Shanchang was the deepest thorn in Taizu's heart.
After the death of a number of representative military generals such as Xu Da and Li Wenzhong.
Li Shanchang has completely become the unique leader of Huaixi Group.
The military generals have no eldest brother and no one to talk things over in the court. What should they do? They can only rely on Li Shanchang, who is also from Huaixi.
Therefore, no matter in any period or in any dynasty, civil and military affairs can never coexist.
During war, external conflicts can be alleviated from the side.
But what about in peacetime?
Or, like the Tang Dynasty, the military enlarged the vassal town and divided it into one side.
Or just like the Song Dynasty, they controlled martial arts with culture and lived in an ignoble way without thinking about progress.
When there are no external enemies, internal "enemies" will naturally appear.
Unless one company completely wins.
But they still won't stop fighting for power.
They can even fight against themselves. Isn’t faction fighting just killing each other?
Therefore, Zhang Weixian's Buddhist participation in politics is a happy situation for both parties. Even Wang Xiangqian, who has led troops and fought in wars, is also happy.
Just when they were about to breathe a sigh of relief, Zhu Youxiao's flying knight came back with his draft appointment letter to Shanxi officialdom.
When several ministers saw the letter, they secretly lamented that His Majesty really couldn't take any time off. He had promised to go to the southwest to make toast, so why did he go to Taiyuan to cause trouble first?
But they have no choice. What has happened has already happened, and this person has already been chopped down. Even if they have any opinions or want to object, it is useless. They can only wipe their butts clean as soon as possible.
"Everyone, what do you think about what His Majesty said in his letter, that he has not decided on the candidate for the governor of Shanxi for the time being, but will create the post of governor of Shanxi and directly take charge of the military affairs of the province except Xuan Dabian Town and other places?"
"His Majesty has also appointed the candidate for Taiyuan Magistrate. Sun Chuanting, who is currently Henan Chengxuan Political Envoy and Shangqiu Magistrate, has never been heard of. I wonder if anyone is familiar with Sun Chuanting!"
These are the two most important things in the letter. Wang Xiangqian said it immediately after reading it and listened to everyone's opinions.
"We already have the Governor of Xuanda, why do we need the Governor of Shanxi?"
"Except for the two military towns in Datong, Xuanfu, Shanxi has no other important frontiers. The people in the territory live and work in peace and contentment. There are no disasters or wars. Why is the admiral responsible for military affairs?"
"Besides, Shanxi is close to the capital. If something happens, we can send a quick horse to report to the capital. It only takes a few days!"
Although Cheng Guoxiang did not clearly express his attitude, it is not difficult to tell from his words that he was opposed to abandoning the governor and establishing a governor.
There is no other reason than the empty treasury and lack of money.
Your Majesty has made it very clear that the Governor of Shanxi is to supervise the military affairs, and the military affairs of the entire province.
According to the emperor's temperament, the admiral in charge of military affairs is different from the past. He must have a purpose before he sends someone to take charge of the entire province's army.
The most likely possibility is that the Shanxi garrison and the barracks in various cities are going to be reorganized. But before reorganizing the armaments, what is most needed and what should be prepared? Silver.
If the Shanxi soldiers were trained according to the original specifications for the Yulin army, the military expenditure would be astronomical.
Although he was single-handedly promoted and appointed by the emperor, as the Minister of Household Affairs, his first priority was the people's livelihood and the court's finances, and he could not do whatever the emperor wanted.
In his opinion, Shanxi was safe and sound, and the border towns were guarded by general military officers. In this situation where the imperial government's finances were already difficult to maintain, the most taboo thing was to cause more trouble and increase the pressure on one's own side.
What's more, a war is about to begin, so we can't attack both sides. If this goes wrong and triggers a mutiny in Shanxi, there is a danger of overthrow.
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