During the five Northern Expeditions, the Ming army indeed occupied cities on the grasslands without any bloodshed, and it can be called the greatest achievement during the Northern Expeditions. In particular, the burning of some strategic materials such as grain stored by the Mongols effectively delayed the Mongols' chance to regain their strength.
But also because of such operations, the eastern faction, which had grown in power but was relatively moderate, declined. Even if the Oara people in the west are temporarily prevented from invading eastward, it will not change the situation in Mongolia where the west is strong and the east is weak.
In the future, the Ming army will have to gradually face those opponents who were cultivated in a harsher environment - later, the Western Mongolia that captured Yingzong's Oara during the Tumu Incident.
The real purpose of Zhu Di's Northern Expedition was internal rather than external. Especially as a usurper, he very much needs victory in foreign wars to demonstrate his martial arts. Starting with the best Mongolian tribe, it is naturally convenient and easy to use.
Peiping, Zhu Di's large base, will also gain status as a result of these expeditions. This facilitated the implementation of the capital relocation policy he later proposed. As the emperor moved north, various military and administrative departments had to be stationed in Beijing. Subtly, most of the preparations for moving the capital were completed.
The victory of the five Northern Expeditions was also Zhu Di's internal propaganda: the Mongol threat had been quelled through his own efforts. Moreover, the Bei Yuan forces were not completely extinct. If Zhu Di wanted to establish a new capital in Beijing, it was impossible not to consider the possibility of the Bei Yuan's revival.
Therefore, the Northern Expedition also satisfied his other two strategies at the same time: one was to establish a relatively safe buffer zone near Beijing; the other was to use the peace of the world as an excuse to gradually move all the vassal kings on the border to the interior and relieve their control. Control of border troops.
This is why Zhu Di's five Northern Expeditions all seemed to be "big thunder but little rain", and in the end they seemed like a busy schedule.
Gao Pragmatic has never thought about how to rule from the perspective of a usurper, so of course he will slander. According to his habitual thinking, he has always been to get up early if there is no profit. Even if he loses money temporarily, he must have long-term interests as his goal.
Moreover, Gao Pragmatic especially likes to adopt a two-pronged approach, or even a multi-pronged approach. Just like this "Monan Game of Chess", his goals are actually more than what Burihatu analyzed.
Naturally, his first task is to further control Tumut. For this purpose, he not only prepared big sticks, but also prepared carrots. Now that the big sticks have basically been revealed, only part of the carrots have been thrown out, and the subsequent parts need to be given based on the situation - the principle of rising rice and fighting rice and hatred. It is very clear, so how much should be given must be decided based on the actual situation, but in a word, he still has cards in his hand to play;
The second task is to weaken the Chahar Department as much as possible. If everything goes well, the Chahar headquarters will naturally be weakened as well. However, he is used to thinking about the bad situation first, so his basic attitude is that if the situation changes, at least the peripheral forces of the Chahar tribe, such as Duo, will be weakened. Yan, Taining and other ministries were greatly weakened, leaving Chahar in an isolated and helpless situation.
The second level task is to indirectly control the Ordos Department and the Qinghai Tumed Department through the hands of Tumut. Although Burihatu thought about this issue in his mind, he couldn't talk about it in person, but there is no need to elaborate.
There are still some small incidental tasks left, such as asking Qi Jiguang to test the actual combat effectiveness of the car camp to judge whether the Wanli Type-1 bayonet musket can use hollow square array tactics after it is installed;
For another example, examine Li Chengliang's attitude towards him: is he willing to cooperate, or is he conflicted and submissive? This is related to how he will deal with Li Chengliang in the future. Although Zhu Yijun is a little dissatisfied with Li Chengliang, he actually knows that Li Chengliang has no better one for the time being. Replacement candidate.
Therefore, Gao pragmatically needs to judge whether Li Chengliang can continue to be used. If not, who should replace him? If used, to what extent can it be used.
He is highly pragmatic when it comes to employing people. He may pay more attention to the attribute of loyalty within Jinghua, because Jinghua is a "private enterprise" and he is in charge of all major matters. He can ensure that there will be no serious problems in the overall situation, so the people below need it more. It’s execution, not pioneering spirit.
If you want to create a spirit, you have to wait until he is old and can no longer take care of it, or he doesn't want to bother, and then he will consider it seriously, but now... there is no need for it yet.
But for the national level of the Ming Dynasty, he has no such idea of "loving virtuous ministers and distant villains". Therefore, the national level is too broad. Even if he is pragmatic and full of iron, how many nails can he hit? Therefore, when considering employment issues, the first attribute to consider is ability, followed by controllability - there is no such thing as loyalty.
For this country in the family era, loyalty is a very luxurious attribute, especially because of some of Confucius's views, such as the clan principle of "relatives hiding each other" and the idea of family system, the vast majority of people They all regard family interests much higher than the so-called national interests - because in their view, national interests are nothing more than the family interests of the Zhu family, so why should my own family interests be subordinated to the interests of your emperor's family?
This problem is quite difficult, because it is actually a problem at the core of spiritual culture. It can almost be said that as long as the family world still exists, this kind of thinking cannot be eradicated.
From a highly pragmatic point of view, under the real monarchy, this contradiction is irreconcilable. If the monarchy must be retained, then it must also enter a political system of virtual monarchs so that the people of the world feel that they are also one of the masters of the world. Only then will they truly feel that "everyone is responsible for the rise and fall of the world" - this sentence has not yet been appeared, because it was said by Gu Yanwu in the context of the Qing army's entry into the pass.
But the truth is actually very simple: just like a company, there is only one boss, and the employees receive dead wages, and there are no performance rewards, and there is no equity capital, let alone dividends. Then how can you expect these employees to look after the interests of the company? Be important?
Naturally, he tried every means to use his position and power in the company for his own personal gain - what a great private gain, but the company is not mine, and losses are also the boss's losses, so why should I be anxious? Even if the company stalls, the worst case scenario is that I will just change jobs. What can I do that I can’t do with all my skills?
At the national level, this is how traitors are produced.
Therefore, there must be performance rewards, otherwise everyone will just have a free time, and naturally the more they work, the more severe the consequences will be. Dividends must also be provided, otherwise no one will take the company's interests seriously without their own interests in them.
There are now performance rewards at the national level - promotions, titles, honors, and posthumous titles, which can all be counted as performance.
But there is obviously no dividends at the national level. For example, if the Ming Dynasty conquered Mongolia, would ordinary people get any direct benefits other than saying "My Ming Dynasty is mighty"? Can the court give him a reward of one or two silver coins? Obviously not, so in the eyes of ordinary people, it has nothing to do with them at all.
Of course, ordinary people on the border may have a slightly deeper understanding. At least once the Ming Dynasty conquers Mongolia, they won't have to worry about the Mongols going south to plunder from time to time, right?
Why are Shanxi, Shaanxi and other places now almost the "basic base" of the Gao Party? In addition to the fact that Gao Gong, an official leader who was born as a scholar in Beibang, won over a large number of officials in the Shanxi and Long regions early on, the fundamental reason is that Gao Gong's Anda tribute policy saved Shanxi, Shaanxi and other places from the suffering of war. , the local economy has been restored and developed, and both officials and civilians have benefited from it.
Do you really think that the northern leader will be able to stabilize the basic market of the north? The emperor is from Fengyang. Are only Fengyang people supporting him? Innocent.
Why is it that Gao Jinghua's development in the south is not as smooth as in the north? After more than ten years, Jinghua's basic base is still in Gyeonggi, Henan and other places? Nothing but profit.
His industry in the north has attracted a large number of loyal ministers, and through Beijing's iron and coal supply and its control over Tianjin Port, and even Mongolia's mutual trade and trade routes, he has established relationships with some bureaucratic capital, so he can run rampant in the north. Taboo, everyone has to give him a bit of a thumbs-down.
In the south, because it is not as convenient as in the north to buy land, and there is no official support for building factories and mining, it is very difficult to advance.
Only when he can lead his relatives, officials, and businessmen in the south to make a fortune together will his development in the south become smoother, and this can only be hoped for by the smooth development of the Nanyang strategy and through maritime trade. I have already won over people, so there is no rush now.
It is precisely because everyone will consider self-interest, and he is not the emperor, so it is impossible to distribute dividends to Li Chengliang on behalf of the emperor, so it is necessary to examine Li Chengliang's attitude. This is actually an act of testing the price: I need you, Li Chengliang, to listen to me. It depends on what price you, Li Chengliang, offer.
Gao Pragmatic certainly could not accept that Li Chengliang almost turned the entire Liaodong into his independent kingdom as he had done in history - of course, this "independent kingdom" did not mean that Liaodong belonged to him personally or his Li family. In fact, it was later called " "Liaodong General" was created by Li Chengliang. They are the real rulers of Liaodong.
According to Gao's pragmatic thinking, it doesn't matter if you, Li Chengliang, want to make yourself the God of War of Liaodong in the Ming Dynasty. I can accept it if you want to bring some benefits to your family and your subordinates, but you regard Liaodong as belonging to your Li family and your subordinates. No one can touch your interests in the back garden, that's not okay.
Because once changes occur in Liaodong, and you Liaodong can't solve it alone, why don't you ask the entire Ming Dynasty to give you blood transfusions? Why do you lead the imperial court by the nose in everything regarding Liaodong affairs?
Finally, Gao Pragmatic also has a side task, which is to gain prestige - Mongolia, a major problem for two hundred years, I, Gao, solved most of it for the Ming Dynasty with one action. People who questioned me before were just relying on the shadow of my third uncle to gain power. There should be nothing to say now, right? If Zhu Yijun wants to reuse me next time, you have nothing to say, right?
At the same time, this is also a major event to stabilize the Gao Party: Gao Gong's death and Guo Pu's appointment does not mean that our Gao Party will not take over!
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Thank you to the book friend "Good Mood on a Cloudy Day" for your monthly ticket support, thank you! By the way, I’ve been updating less frequently these past two days, and I think my mind is much clearer!
