As soon as Gao Pragmatic returned to Beijing, he discovered that something was not right. The first thing that was wrong was that the atmosphere was wrong. This time, such a huge chaos was put down, including forcing surrender and annihilating more than 100,000 enemy troops of Ilduqi and Boshuktu, but the emperor did not choose to welcome them in the suburbs. This time, on behalf of the emperor, he was greeted by several princes and marquis from the cabinet and the Commander-in-Chief of the Fifth Army.
You must know that civil strife is also divided into levels. The current Northwest Rebellion is not the kind of Japanese pirate attacks that did not endanger the rule decades ago, nor is it the mud-legged rebellion that the court generally looks down upon. The people who rebelled this time were the imperial army's economic and political forces, which were regarded as the most dangerous group in the rebellion category.
What's more, Kuaibai is not just a simple rebel. He also collaborates with foreign enemies. It is a combination of internal and external rebellion, which may completely endanger the rule. Putting down such an important rebellion is no less important than opening up new territories. Historically, just to put down a Kuaibai Rebellion, the subsequent merit review would have been very grand and solemn, not to mention that this time it was an "enhanced version" of the entire Northwest Rebellion.
According to Zhu Yijun's usual attitude, this situation is obviously very unusual. If the number one hero who made such a great contribution was just a military general, then it wouldn’t matter if the standards for the triumphant return were a little lower, but when the person who returned in triumph was a handsome man who was also highly pragmatic, it would be too unusual. .
The Holy Family is known to be highly pragmatic and pragmatic. However, they were not welcomed by the emperor for achieving such great achievements.
Many people had to begin to wonder what went wrong. Could it be that the controversy between the government and the opposition a few days ago had affected the emperor, and the emperor planned to deal with this matter coldly.
However, this is not right either.
Even if Zhuang Langwei's credit for this battle is not attributed to Gao Pragmatic, he captured Boshu Ketu alive and ensured the obedience of the Ordos tribe to the Ming Dynasty and King Shunyi. This is always a real achievement, right? It was almost "without spending a single soldier." The credit for recapturing Ningxia with one stroke is real, right?
Not only were others suspicious, but even Gao Jingshi himself was a little surprised. Looking at the cabinet and the Dukes of the Five Prefectures, although his expression was as usual, he still couldn't help but wonder in his heart that someone had made some slander in front of the emperor, and even said Moved the emperor
In the absence of the emperor, everything was in accordance with the procedures. Gao pragmatically dismounted and accepted the congratulations of the officials. The "welcome speech" given by the chief minister Shen Shixing on behalf of the officials was all cliche, so there is no need to mention it.
After finishing the cliche, Shen Shixing spoke again, which further deepened Gao Pragmatic's worries, because Shen Shixing did not represent the emperor in his words. He only congratulated Gao Pragmatic on his triumphant victory on behalf of "the cabinet and colleagues".
Gao Pragmatic's many years of acting skills finally came into play, and he didn't show any disappointment. He thanked everyone calmly and politely.
Just when he was already thinking about how to contact Huang Mengyu and Chen Ju to understand the situation in the palace, Zhu Yingzhen, who was standing aside, suddenly smiled and said, "The hard work of the Privy Council is a great achievement. The emperor originally planned to greet him in person, but it was an accident." The Empress Dowager Cisheng has been feeling cold these past few days, and her body is incompatible with the Emperor's filial nature, so she personally delivers the decoction and medicine to the Cining Palace. She is unable to come, so she has to order the prince of the country to pay her respects on her behalf."
It turned out that this was the case. Gao Pingshi felt a little relieved and hurriedly said, "Filial piety comes first among all good deeds. Your Majesty's move sets an example for the world. I admire you very much. I just don't know if the empress dowager's body will improve."
Zhu Yingzhen didn't know how to answer this question, so he could only chuckle and say, "Ah, it's much better, much better." Then as if he remembered something, he quickly added, "Oh, by the way, the emperor also said that because the Queen Mother is ill, your Majesty will see her." Things have to wait for now, and the Privy Council can hand over the customs defense and other items first and wait for the order."
so serious
Gao Pingshi was a little dazed. Historically, Empress Dowager Li was in good health, but it was far from her time to pass away. How come the emperor didn't even have time to meet with me and wait for me to pay my respects to Monk Fang Jian?
"I obey the decree. I am grateful to you, Lord Laoguo."
At this time, even though Gao Pangshi had handed over the military power of the expedition and restored his original identity, he added, "Since all the governors of the five prefectures are here, Commander Qi must be here too."
As the commander of the Imperial Guards, Qi Jiguang could now be regarded as the number one military general. However, even so, he still couldn't stand in front of a group of cabinet ministers, ministers and nobles. Gao Pragmatic could only ask by name.
Zhu Yingzhen turned around quickly, waved his hand to the crowd behind him, and shouted, "Is Commander Qi here?"
Qi Jiguang, who was wearing a red python suit, came out from behind and bowed his hands, "Jiguang has seen the Privy Council."
Gao Pingshi pointed at the Imperial Guard troops he had brought back and said with a smile, "I've done this, and the troops and horses under my troops will be returned to you. You can go back and count them to see if there is any discrepancy between the remaining numbers and the victory memorial."
Although Gao Pragmatic was Qi Jiguang's direct leader, Qi Jiguang still said seriously, "The last general will take orders."
After handing over the troops and horses, we also need to hand over the customs defense monk Fang Jian and other items. There are still a lot of troubles here, so it is inconvenient for Gao Jingjing to wait for a long time. Shen Shixing is not interested in talking too much with Gao Jingjing in front of so many people. , and soon everyone entered the city and said goodbye.
Since Zhu Yingzhen had just brought the emperor's oral order, asking him to stay at home to wait for the order, in principle he was now on vacation, so he went to the Ministry of War to hand over the customs to Liang Menglong, and handed over Shang Fangjian to the eunuch sent by the Supervisor of Ceremonies to collect it before returning. Li Zhao returned to Jinggongfang.
Surprisingly, when he came back, there were guests at his house.
Zhu Yingzhen smiled and crossed his legs in the pavilion in the front garden, holding a Japanese gold-painted folding fan in his hand. There was even a tea set on the table next to him, as if he had been waiting for him for a long time.
Gao Pingshi stepped forward with a smile and said, "Gong Chengguo doesn't come to the Three Treasures Hall for nothing. I don't know what the important thing is here."
"I was really fine at first, but the emperor asked me to come, so I had to come." Zhu Yingzhen said with a smile, "However, your clever calculations by Gao Longwen are known to the world, so you might as well guess why I am here."
Gao pragmatic raised his eyebrows slightly, "It seems that the emperor is also aware of some discussions between the government and the public."
"Let me just say that the Ministry of Internal Affairs in Jinghua is very powerful. I really can't hide this from you." Zhu Yingzhen sighed, "Don't look at the hundreds of officials who greeted you in the suburbs today. Almost none of them arrived. When you didn't come, they were It’s been noisy for days.”
Gao pragmatism said indifferently, "Just because of Zhuang Langwei's battle, who deserves the credit?"
"Of course, what else?" Zhu Yingzhen spread his hands. "The military achievements of civil servants are different from Li Rusong. He, Li Rusong, is already the commander-in-chief of Taiyuan. After receiving this credit, he can still only be the commander-in-chief. It is amazing to add a prince prince to him." A false title such as Bao should be given to suit the occasion, or a set of robes should be given. But the difference is huge if the credit goes to you or to Wei Que'an."
Gao pragmatically said calmly, "Whatever happens will be a big deal."
"Of course it's big." Zhu Yingzhen raised his eyebrows. "If it is given to Wei Que'an, everyone has already considered it. As long as he takes Songshan and recovers Xining this time, the imperial court will not only give him a set of python robes, but also Being promoted to a Young Master is something that the Pavilion Master has to do for several years before he has the chance to get it."
Gao pragmatic smiled, said nothing, took a sip of the fragrant tea brought by the maid, obviously still waiting for Zhu Yingzhen's next words.
When Zhu Yingzhen saw it, he continued, "But if I give it to you, it would be even more amazing. Although the heads you got this time are not as amazing as the previous Monan War, the cabinet and various ministries believe that the credit is great and you deserve it." A big reward. If this big reward also includes the Zhuang Langwei battle, it would be even more amazing. Let’s all do the math, your contribution is no less than Wang Yangming’s, and you can even be knighted.”
He was pragmatic but didn't believe this. He shook his head and said, "How can this be calculated? Zhu Chenhao was the king of Ning when he rebelled. He was different from the rebels. Wang Wencheng judged his rebellion fairly, and he was different from the rest. Otherwise, the world would not be in chaos. Young, but who else was knighted as a civil servant because of this?"
Gao pragmatically means that the court also depends on the target when quelling rebellion. The rebellion of the feudal king is the biggest political threat, so the reward for quelling the rebellion of the feudal king is particularly high, which is completely different from that of quelling other rebellions.
Of course, this is because the Battle of Jingnan had a great impact on the Ming Dynasty. In fact, although King Ning raised 100,000 troops for his rebellion at that time, the battle was not strenuous. To a certain extent, it was even a bit funny, because When Wang Yangming's level is compared with that of Ning Wang, it's really a judgment of clouds and mud. The gap between the two sides is really too big.
Zhu Chenhao dared to rebel because he established a private armed force with tens of thousands of troops, known as an army of one hundred thousand. In order to seek wealth and honor in danger, many of his cronies either joined on their own initiative or were coerced into following. Zhu Chenhao promoted officials on a large scale, appointing prime ministers, ministers, etc. At the same time, the message was circulated to various places, encouraging those who were interested to rebel together, but no response was received. Zhu Chenhao was probably quite surprised, but the matter has come to this, and the arrow has to be fired. If you don't do it, I will do it alone.
In early July, Zhu Chenhao led his army to occupy Jiujiang and other places, left Jiangxi, and went down the river in an attempt to capture Nanjing.
It is true that Zhu Houzhao, the emperor of Zhengde, was a wonderful man, but in such a large court, there are still some capable people. Zhu Chenhao's luck was also extremely bad. The first opponent he met was Wang Yangming, a great Confucian and strategist who was famous throughout the ages. Wang Yangming was the governor of southern Jiangxi at that time, and his jurisdiction was in Fujian and Jiangxi.
Wang Yangming raised troops to serve the king and adopted the strategy of suspecting the soldiers. He first pretended to spread the message to various places, claiming that he would lead 160,000 troops to attack King Ning's lair. King Ning was afraid of Wang Shouren's large number of troops, so the army began to hesitate halfway and did not dare to act rashly. After waiting for more than ten days, he found that Wang Yangming had done nothing, so he felt confident and boldly attacked Nanjing.
Little did they know that Wang Shouren took this time to organize 80,000 troops. He took this opportunity to go straight to King Ning's lair and recaptured Nanchang. Nanchang fell to Zhu Chenhao in early July and was recaptured within ten days. Zhu Chenhao was shocked. He quickly returned to the army to rescue Nanchang. This was a stupid idea in itself. It was even better to defeat Nanjing first.
At Huangjiadu in the northeast of Nanchang, Zhu Chenhao and Wang Yangming's troops fought and were defeated. Zhu Chenhao retreated, but Wang Yangming pursued and defeated the rebels. Zhu Chenhao was captured along with his son and close subordinates. The time is July 26th. It only took Zhu Chenhao more than 20 days from the time he raised his troops to the time he was captured.
Gao Pragmatic's time to quell the rebellion in the northwest took less than a month from sending troops to conquering Ningxia, but it was two days slower than Wang Yangming's time.
Of course, the opponent he faced was different from Ning Wang Zhu Chenhao. Although Ning Wang claimed to have an army of 100,000, he could not really fight many, and his actual combat experience was unreliable.
But this time Gao Pragmatic was different. What kind of opponents did he fight? The elites of the Ordos tribe and the elites of Ningxia, one of the nine sides of the Ming Dynasty. Both of them were opponents with rich war experience, and their total military strength was actually greater than that of King Ning. A little more. So in terms of difficulty, it is definitely more difficult this time.
Of course, this also requires looking back at the fact that although the troops he led when he went on the expedition were not large in number at the beginning, in terms of quality, they were much more reliable than the rabble Wang Yangming had summoned temporarily. After all, this Everyone knew how bad the Ming Dynasty's southern army was at that time. Although it could be said to be good or bad, it was definitely not as good as Jiubian.
This impression generally began to change in the era of Yu Long and Qi Hu. However, once the direct line elites of Qi Jiguang, Yu Dayou, Liu Xian and others are excluded, then the Southern Army will definitely be much worse than the Northern Army as a whole. The two dwarfs were taller than each other, and one of them was slightly taller.
In this life, due to its highly pragmatic relationship, the Northern Army was actually more elite than the Southern Army. Because all the reforms involving military affairs ultimately benefited mainly the towns on the nine sides, so the gap was even greater.
Of course, I am afraid that only Gao Pragmatic would do this, and basically no one else would consider it this way. In the eyes of others, Wang Yangming put down the rebellion of King Ning with 100,000 people. Gao Pragmatic's record this time was no worse than him. Apart from King Ning's political bonus, the two men's achievements were equal to each other.
This was a big trouble, because Wang Shouren was granted the title of Xinjian Bo at that time, and in the Longqing Dynasty, he was granted the title of Xinjian Bo. By this time, Wang Yangming had passed away. If Gao Pragmatic's achievements are valued this time in the same way as Wang Yangming's at that time, wouldn't it mean that Gao Pragmatic will also be made an earl?
There is still hope for military generals in the Ming Dynasty to be knighted, but it is not easy to be knighted by civilian officials. So far in the two hundred years of the Ming Dynasty, only the "Three Kings" Wang Ji, Wang Yue, and Wang Shouren have been knighted by civilian officials.
Is it necessary to add a fourth one now?
Gao Pragmatic suddenly had an enlightenment. No wonder Shen Shixing didn't have the heart to talk to him today. It seemed that this matter also put a lot of pressure on him.
Now Gao Jingshi clearly understands why there is so much controversy in the court. If Zhuang Langwei's military exploits in the first battle are not attributed to Gao Jingshi, then those who oppose him in the court can use the reason that Prince Ning's special status is far more special than that of Kuaibai. I came to oppose the knighthood of Gao Pragmatic, but if the battle of Zhuang Langwei is added, this reason seems somewhat untenable.
In this battle, Zhuang Langwei not only gained more heads and captured more people, but he could also immediately regain Songshan and Xining and maintain the channel with Gansu. This is of great significance.
Seeing Gao Pragmatic's expression change, Zhu Yingzhen couldn't help but smile and said, "How to seek truth? I see, we will get closer in the future."
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