February of this year was full of major events. First, in the middle of the month, they were shocked to hear that the city of Xining had been lost. Not long after, the imperial court not only gave no instructions to the trilateral governors involved in Xining, but only scolded him for his procrastination and asked him to mobilize the army earlier. , grain and other supplies to regain the lost territory, and then very suddenly established the seven-town managerial strategy, with Gao pragmatic serving as the original official concurrently, and he was re-added the title of Metropolitan Procuratorate.
The full title of Gao Wuchen's current position is "assistant in charge of the left minister of the Ministry of Military Affairs and Military Affairs of the Beijing Camp, the censor of the right capital of the Metropolitan Procuratorate, the manager of the four towns of Jiliao and the third town of Xuanda, etc., and also in charge of food and wages." In addition, Zhu Yijun also promoted his prose official rank from Jiayi Dafu to Tongyi Dafu, on the grounds that he would be rewarded for the smooth restructuring of the Beijing camp. Yu Guan is not the same as before - Yu Guan is just a false title like Palace Protector.
The fact that this decree was successfully passed has caused a lot of discussion among the outside world. Some people even openly discussed it and suspected that the cabinet and the Sixth Section were crazy.
Why do you say this? This is related to the evolution of the establishment of governors, governors, managers and other positions in the Ming Dynasty.
In the Ming Dynasty, there was always a lack of formal official positions for senior military officers. Civil servants from the imperial court were dispatched to local areas, mostly in special capacities with titles such as the Ministry of War and the Metropolitan Procuratorate, overriding the three departments.
The origins and differences between the two positions of governor and governor have been discussed earlier in this book, so I won't go into details here. I will mainly talk about this "management".
"History of the Ming Dynasty" says: "In the first year of Tianqi, Liaodong Jinglue was established. The name of Jinglue came from Song Yingchang and Empress Yang Hao in the 20th year of Wanli. In the first year of Tianqi, Sun Chengzong, the governor of the cabinet, was appointed to manage Shanhaiguan, and he was called Shufu . In the fourth year of Chongzhen, it was merged into the governor-general. In the eleventh year, a governor-general was added to Baoding."
However, the "History of the Ming Dynasty" is obviously wrong here, because judging from the information in the "Shilu of the Ming Dynasty", the earliest economic summary did not appear in the Tianqi period. Of course, "jinglue" can be understood here as a verb, meaning "to run military affairs and be responsible for military strategy" or something like that.
For example, on Bingchen in June of the 18th year of Hongzhi: Li Hao, the left minister of the Ministry of Industry and Commerce of Shanhaiguan, returned to Beijing and reported on Jinglue's deeds. From the entrance of Miao Temple to Miyun Tomb Tiangu Pass, there are fifty hectares of wasteland and twenty temples, more than 24,790 feet of side walls, more than 3,300 feet of furrows, piers, towers, towers, There are more than 170 barracks and other items, and more than 380 barracks. ("Records of Wuzong")
In Guimao, the first month of the thirteenth year of Zhengde, the Tatar bandit Wu Chijin led his troops to Muhetao. They were about to enter Yansui, and the guards heard about it. The Ministry of War issued an order: "Deputy Commander-in-Chief Zhu Luan of Yansui, General Hang Xiong, guerrilla Zhou Zheng, and Liu Yujun were stationed at the Anbian camp, etc. Ji Shiying and Feng Dajing were stationed in the convenient castle in the east; Commander-in-Chief Liu Yong guarded the town and dispatched troops at the same time. Ningxia General Soldier Anguo defended the town, Deputy General Soldier Lu Ying, guerrilla Li Yongding Army Qingshui Camp, Huamachi, Dingbian Camp and other places, and the East Road Commander-in-Chief ordered soldiers to patrol and respond to reinforcements, Shaanxi General Soldier Zhao Wen, Du Yu Shi Zhengyang's military strategy for the garrison in Guyuan. Please listen to all the generals and take charge of the war and defense on your own. There is no need to control them remotely." Follow this. ("Records of Wuzong")
In the seventh month of the 16th year of Zhengde's reign, the Ministry of War reported: "The construction of piers, towers, and wall trenches at Juyong, Zijing, and Daoma Passes is very strange. Li Zan, the censor of the capital, has summarized the experience." ("Records of Emperor Shizong") 》)
In the 11th month of the 30th year of Wanli, Jiashen: From the Imperial Inspection Yuan, the right censor of the capital, Jianda, was the governor of Ji, Liao, Baoding and other military affairs, and also in charge of food and wages, as well as the strategy to ward off the Japanese; the right censor of the capital, Hu Yingyuan, was in charge of Zhejiang and other provinces. In the local area, he supervises military affairs. ("Records of Shenzong")
"History of the Ming Dynasty" also has later records, such as Bingzi in June of the 26th year of Wanli: Wan Shide, the censor of Tianjin Qiandu, conducted an expedition to Korea.
It can be seen here that the minister of the Ministry of Industry can also take up the position of "Jinglue". Therefore, the actual minimum "standard" for "Jinglue" is the minister. In other words, ministers of Liubu Hall and above can serve in the imperial court. Serve as "manager" when necessary.
The mention of Yang Hao in the history of the Ming Dynasty was made in Gengshen, the leap month of the 46th year of Wanli: Yang Hao was promoted to the position of left minister of the Ministry of War and censor of the right capital of Qian, and he conducted a strategy in Liaodong. ("Records of Shenzong")
Literally understood, Yang Hao's actual position was the left minister of the Ministry of War and the censor of the right Qiandu, responsible for "the management of Liaodong". "Jingsu" is more appropriately understood as a verb here.
Of course, sometimes, governor and manager are often used together as verbs. For example, "History of the Ming Dynasty" records that on Bingchen of the first month of spring in the twenty-fifth year of Wanli: North Korean envoys came to ask for help. In February Bingyin, it was reconsidered to conquer the Japanese. Bingzi, the former commander-in-chief, Tongzhi Magui, was the commander-in-chief of the Japanese army, commanding all the armies in the north and south. In Yisi of March, Yang Hao, who participated in the political affairs of Shandong Province, became the censor of Qiandu and managed the military affairs of Korea. At the end of the year, Xing Jie, the minister of the Ministry of War, was appointed Shangshu, governor of Ji, Liao and Baoding military affairs, and managed the war against the Japanese.
Xing Jie here is even more interesting. He served as both the governor and the manager as the minister of the Ministry of War.
To sum up, given his high pragmatic status and past achievements, there is no problem for him to be a "strategist". Even if he manages the seven strongest towns of the Ming Dynasty by himself, it is actually not a big deal. question.
What's the big problem? This is what Gao Pangshi himself was surprised about before: he did not step down as the Minister of Rongzheng, but actually served as the Minister of Rongzheng and concurrently served as the manager of the Seven Towns.
This nature is quite different.
As we all know, although the Minister of Rongzheng is only the "second in command" of the Jingying camp in name, due to the fact that the Ming Dynasty has been noble and military for a long time, the "Governor of the Rongzheng of the Jingying Rongzheng" and the "Assistant of the Rongzheng of the Jingying camp" have actually been out of position for a long time. In a state of being suspended upside down - you want Zhangwu Bo Yang Bing to really think of himself as the "governor" when Gao Pragmatic presides over the Beijing camp meeting, and try to boss Gao Pragmatic around? He was afraid that he would pee in fear.
Therefore, the assistant manager of Jingying Rongzheng has long been the de facto "top leader" of Jingying. And that was before. After Gao Jingshi's outrageous maneuvers last year, the Jingying camp was divided into the Imperial Guard and the Production and Construction Corps, both of which were directly under the orders of the "associate in charge of the Jingying military affairs" - that is, Gao Jingshi himself.
Among them, the Production and Construction Corps is not responsible for combat, but is only responsible for logistics, equipment and other matters. As a result, the Imperial Guards responsible for combat had one and only one immediate boss, the Minister of Rongzheng.
In other words, now even if the emperor wants to mobilize the Imperial Guard, in theory, he must go through Gao Pragmatic, the Minister of Rongzheng.
Originally, this system was established because Gao Pragmatic wanted to ensure that the imperial guards would not be treated like the Beijing camp in the past, being ordered around by various ministries of the imperial court to do things like sweeping the streets and clearing sewers. Troop training was delayed, but later a situation emerged in which the Minister of Rongzheng had full control of the Imperial Guard.
This situation is equivalent to the relationship between the military minister and the commander of the Imperial Guard similar to that between the governor and the general, that is, the civilian officials control the generals, and the civilian officials are actually the "literary commanders." In other words, if there are new establishments such as Yulin Army and Yulin Army under the Beijing Camp system that are parallel to the Imperial Guard, then they should also be under the jurisdiction of the Rongzheng Minister.
Trouble came when Gao Jingshi served as the minister of Rongzheng concurrently in the seven towns of Jiliao and Xuanda, which was equivalent to controlling almost all the combat forces in the Ming capital and surrounding areas.
Some officials counted on their fingers: Liaodong had 180,000 soldiers, Jizhou had 180,000 soldiers, Changping had 60,000 soldiers, Xuanfu had 130,000 soldiers, Datong had 120,000 soldiers, and Shanxi had 77,000 soldiers. Ten thousand, Baoding has 40,000 troops... The total strength of the seven towns is more than 780,000.
If you add the 60,000 Royal Guards, that's an army of nearly 850,000!
Cuo Fei is a civil servant and a "loyalty of all ages" background. Otherwise, what awaits him now may not be "questioning" or "discussion", but straightforward verbal and written criticism, and even "everyone will punish him" .
In fact, the officials who now question this appointment are not doubting or worrying that Gao Pragmatic will rebel, because that is actually impossible - the civilian military command power comes directly from the emperor's temporary appointment, which does not mean that he has any control over these armies.
In other words, the troops under him only obeyed his temporary command because they were "under the emperor's order" and were not under his control in normal times. This obviously did not meet the necessary conditions for rebellion.
What a rebellion needs is to control an army for a long time and raise this army to the point where it only recognizes the commander-in-chief and does not recognize the emperor at all - so the court always suppresses the general soldier, not the governor, governor or manager. Such civil servants.
After all, the general soldiers these days basically rely on their servants to fight the war, and the servants do not recognize the emperor's imperial edict. They only follow the orders of the family head. Li Chengliang and others will not talk about it. Even though Qi Jiguang claims not to support his servants, in fact the entire Qi Family Army is equivalent to his servants. The only difference is that he did not take the contract of betrayal of the soldiers of the Qi Family Army. In terms of prestige, there is not much difference.
This is also the reason why when Qi Jiguang came to Beijing last year to be the commander of the imperial guard, he only brought a few people with him, but he also stopped outside the capital to ask for instructions in the morning and report in the evening, asking when he could enter the capital.
Because the military power of civilian officials comes from the emperor, he does not have "direct troops", so he does not need to guard against his rebellion, but military generals all have direct troops, so they have to guard against it.
The Ming court actually had a deep understanding of this issue.
Although the current doubts about Gao Pragmatic arise because the army under his direct control is too large and elite, the focus of the conflict is not whether he will rebel, but that his current responsibilities are too heavy-the military strength under his command has reached the level of the entire Ming Dynasty. More than 70% of them, and they are all "elites from all nine sides", plus the Imperial Guards who "defend Shenjing", these are all capable troops, far from being comparable to those who are fleeing at the guard posts in Nanjing.
In his twenties, he has such great power and every move is related to the safety of the world. If something goes wrong, can he bear this responsibility?
What’s particularly strange about the officials who question this is that although Gao Pragmatic’s status is very special, officials from the Practical School certainly don’t mind him holding such power, but... what about the Xin School?
Why did the cabinet also agree and the Sixth Section also agreed?
It is obvious that the first assistant Shen Shixing is from the Xin School, and there are also many Xin School officials among the six subjects?
Why?
Because Shen Shixing believed that the situation was not out of control.
After a previous conversation between him and Zhang Cheng, Shen Shixing thought about it for a long time and decided on a pragmatic response to Gao.
Shen Shixing actually recognized Gao Jingjing's ability in his heart. He didn't doubt that Gao Jingjing couldn't do the seven-town management strategy, and he wasn't worried about what big trap he would create - he had even guessed that the emperor had originally I am afraid that I have already decided on a highly pragmatic candidate for the head coach of the "Chahar Decisive Battle" that has not yet happened.
In this case, it actually doesn't matter at all that he takes up the title of manager now.
In addition, the emperor's decree was issued after it was discussed with the cabinet. Zhu Yijun even personally invited Shen Shixing to the West Nuan Pavilion of Qianqing Palace for a secret discussion and told him Gao Pragmatic's so-called "economic strategy" this time. "The main purpose is just to shock Tumen and Boshu Ketu and others, and it is not really about launching troops now.
At that time, Shen Shixing expressed "a big sigh of relief."
But what Zhu Yijun didn't know was that Shen Shixing's expression was actually just for him. In fact, Shen Yuanfu was not worried that Gao Pragmatic would actually send troops this time, nor was he worried that Gao Pragmatic would be defeated. To put it bluntly, Shen Yuanfu wished that he would be defeated as soon as possible, even if the defeat was miserable, it wouldn't matter.
After a serious talk with Zhang Cheng, Shen Shixing has realized that one of Gao Pragmatic's biggest advantages is that he can "always help the emperor solve problems." Other aspects, such as his background, having a small relationship with the emperor's classmates, etc., then It’s all just icing on the cake.
Gao pragmatism can solve financial problems. Shen Shixing's own family members knew about this, so they could only stare. After all, no one in the world would dare to disagree with Gao's ability in this matter.
But his other ability is not "indestructible". This ability is the so-called "handsome talent".
According to Zhang Cheng's analysis, high pragmatism in fighting "is actually not very good". It can be said that he rarely personally directs battles. He always relies on his generals to be "too good at fighting", so he wins.
For example, when he conquered Annan, he relied on the bravery of Huang Zhiting and Cen Ling's wolf soldiers; when he fought in Monan, he relied on the invincible Mongolian general Qataiji; when he conquered Liaonan, he relied on Ma Fang's secret Guidance.
In a word, Zhang Cheng believes that the so-called handsome talents who are highly pragmatic are not worthy of their reputation. With such subordinates to command, whoever replaces them will do the job.
Although Shen Shixing's views are not as absolute as Zhang Cheng's, he generally agrees with Zhang Cheng's analysis, and he also found that Gao Pragmatic's war has a very obvious "weakness", which is that it costs too much.
The current situation is that the court has no money at all, so once Gao Pragmatic really sends troops, whether it is fighting Tumen or Boshu Ketu, it may be difficult for Gao Pragmatic to successfully win.
It was not that Shen Shixing did not consider the consequences of defeat. After all, he was the chief minister of the dynasty and could not completely ignore this, but he believed that the problem would not be too big.
Whether he wants to admit it or not, the situation has really improved a lot in the past ten years since Gao Gong returned to the Ming Dynasty. Jiubian's military strength was greatly exaggerated back then. At the most dangerous time, it was short of almost half, but now it has been replenished to 77 to 88. If we only talk about the seven towns that Gao Pragmatic planned this time, the overall full strength rate may be as high as 89 to 90%. Success, and the introduction and replacement of high-quality firearms are also progressing smoothly due to the private military industry.
According to Shen Shixing's estimate, the true strength of these seven towns is at least twice that of more than ten years ago. Even if Gao Pragmatic sends troops and suffers a defeat, or even a major defeat, even if he loses one hundred thousand troops at a time, the Ming Dynasty will be able to withstand it, at least he will not be invaded by the Tatars and cause a second Geng Shu uprising.
In this case, what does Shen Shixing have to worry about? Let Gao pragmatic do it. He only needs the camera to see if he should implement "that plan" in advance.
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Thanks to book friend "Cao Mianzi" for your reward and support, thank you!
