Gao Pragmatic's biggest principle in national affairs today can be described in eight words: accelerate reform and seek stability on the border.
The acceleration of internal reforms can be seen from his eagerness to launch two departments and eleven departments and to consolidate the world's financial power; the pursuit of stability in the border areas can also be seen from his unwillingness to really let Shuerhaqi replace Nurhaci.
Why does he adhere so strongly to these two principles? Is it really just for the Chahar battle? Not really.
The decisive battle of Chahar is certainly a national plan. It has been planned from the Gao Gong era to the present. It is not an exaggeration to say that it is something that everyone in the court has expected, and it is the number one focus in Zhu Yijun's eyes. But for Gao Pragmatic, he knows that this is not The most important war.
What kind of force is Chahar? Nomadic, even if Burihatu introduced a certain amount of agricultural production and began to learn from Ye He in business, in the final analysis, Chahar is still a nomadic force.
What does it take to defeat the Nomad Force? The heyday of the Han and Tang dynasties has provided a model for future generations: the cavalry force, which is so powerful that it surpasses the nomads, is the only magic weapon to defeat the nomads.
Wei Huo was like this, and so was Li Jing. Especially from Li Jing's brilliant victory, it can be seen that defeating a seemingly powerful nomadic force can even only require a small number of elite cavalry - of course, the premise is that they are elite enough.
The Ming Dynasty's cavalry may not be considered elite enough compared to the left-wing Mongolian Chahar, but with the help of Gao Pragmatic, if the Ming Dynasty's cavalry can be used intensively, they are actually not afraid of a single Chahar.
As the saying goes, there are not enough elites to make up the number, and there are not enough muskets to make up the cavalry and archery. As long as the country is strong, it can still gather a powerful cavalry force to fight a short and fast cavalry blitz against Chahar - just like Li Jing did with the East Turks. The details may be different, but the meaning is roughly the same.
The reason why Chengzu's expedition to Mobei was huge but with few results was because although Chengzu's overall strength was strong, his infantry had little effect on the vast grassland, and the cavalry in his hands was not enough to attack the remnants of the time. Overwhelming advantage, so several times they went out to the enemy, and it became a hide-and-seek battle.
Gao Pragmatic always used the Chahar battle to trick the court into giving in to his opinions, but it didn't mean that he was really worried about how difficult Chahar would be to fight. He is very confident about defeating Chahar, and it is not expected that it will take long.
What he is really worried about is the battle of Renchen.
The Battle of Renchen refers to the war between the Ming Dynasty, North Korea and Japan that took place from the 20th year of Wanli to the 26th year of Wanli. Because it took place during the Wanli period of the Ming Dynasty, it was also called the "Wanli War to Aid Korea" and "The War to Aid Korea". "Battle of Wanli Korea" and so on. This war seems to be only a war between the Ming Dynasty, North Korea and Japan, but its impact is huge.
First of all, due to the long duration of the Renchen War, the Ming Dynasty spent a lot of money on food and wages, resulting in financial chaos and increased taxes and levies. The Liaodong area, which was the front line to aid Korea, consumed so much material that after the war, North Korea even said that "Liaozuo Road, trapped in the Battle of Liaodong, all mules and cars were gone."
Due to geographical limitations, North Korea had relatively little land, and its grain reserves were simply not enough to supply hundreds of thousands of troops. Therefore, the Ming Dynasty had to provide both people and supplies, and grain and wages needed to be transported from the Ming Dynasty.
But at that time, the Ming Dynasty was in decline and there was no surplus food at all, so it had to increase salt imports and tariffs to raise military pay. In this regard, some scholars have calculated that the Ming Dynasty's expenditures on the Korean battlefield, weapons and equipment costs, and transportation costs were approximately more than 20 million taels. The huge amount of food and salary led to the emptiness of the three major treasuries of the Ming Dynasty: Taichou, Taipusiku and Jingtong.
Regarding such a huge military expenditure, the Ming court internally lamented: "Taicang cannot be entered and exited. In two years, tens of thousands of people from the Sixth Army will wait for the new canal to prepare food. If they fail to pay for it, there will no longer be a capital."
In fact, his worries were unfounded. Because the military expenditure was huge, in order to make up for the emptiness of the national treasury, the imperial court had to increase taxes. "Three major conquests followed, and there were quite a lot of extra dispatches." This resulted in a heavy burden on the people and complaints from the people. This also contributed to the The foreshadowing was laid for the demise of the Ming Dynasty.
Secondly, the war to aid Korea led to intensified internal conflicts in the Ming court and fierce party disputes. First, the military generals headed by Li Rusong and the civil servants headed by Song Yingchang had conflicts due to different political opinions during the war. After the war, frictions arose due to merit-based rewards. Both sides sought benefits for their own camps.
Among the Ming troops supporting North Korea this time, they were divided into northern soldiers and southern soldiers. The northern soldiers were good at riding and shooting, but their siege was very limited, while the southern soldiers had many artillerymen and played a huge role in siege. However, when discussing merit and rewards, the northern soldiers were given the upper hand, which aroused the dissatisfaction of the southern soldiers. According to historical records, "there was discord between the northern and southern armies, and rumors spread among the army."
In addition, the generals of the Eastern Expedition changed frequently. Song Yingchang was replaced by Xing Jie as manager, Li Rusong was replaced as admiral by Ma Gui, and the Minister of War was changed from Shi Xing to Li Zhen... As a result, the imperial court was full of contradictions, exacerbating the instability of the political situation. sex.
In the 21st year of Wanli, when the war entered a period of peace talks, there was endless debate within the Ming Dynasty over whether it was war or peace. Soon after, war broke out again, and Shen Weijing, Shi Xing and others were impeached;
In the 25th year, Ding Yingtai, the director of the praise painting, impeached Yang Hao for a series of charges such as "corruption, causing chaos, and forming cliques to deceive the emperor." Later, Ma Gui impeached Yang Hao and his deputy Li Rumei for having an affair with Japanese pirates. If the Japanese general is upright, make peace with him." Later, Yang Hao was dismissed from office.
This series of impeachments reflected the various contradictions within the Ming Dynasty: partisanship, the struggle between the war faction and the peace faction, the struggle between civil servants and military generals, the struggle between southern soldiers and northern soldiers, etc., which further intensified the conflict between the Ming Dynasty and the Ming Dynasty. The instability of the situation also further weakened the strength of the Ming Dynasty, providing an opportunity for Nurhachi's subsequent growth.
The last and most important point is that the war to aid Korea led to the weakening of the military power in the Liaodong region of the Ming Dynasty. This was an important factor leading to the rise of Nurhachi.
Because the Liaodong region is geographically closest to North Korea, it became the first army to send troops to North Korea for rescue. However, from the beginning of the war to the twenty-eighth year of Wanli, of the 95,000 soldiers in the Liaodong region, only about 40,000 were able to participate in the war - this is the so-called original history of Li Chengliang's direct lineage. Cao Yun was not rescued, and the Cao family army actually dissipated. .
In addition, in addition to the Liaodong region, the Ming Dynasty also successively mobilized troops from all over the country to North Korea, investing about 100,000 troops. However, the Korean battlefield was like a quagmire, causing the Ming army to suffer extremely heavy losses. During the entire war, the Ming army suffered a total of 30,000 to 60,000 casualties, and its horses also suffered heavy losses.
This war weakened the military power of the Ming Dynasty, especially in the Liaodong region. Excessive deployment of troops resulted in a void in local defense, which provided an opportunity for the rise of the Jianzhou Jurchens.
During and after the Battle of Renchen, Nurhaci, while negotiating with the Ming Dynasty, stepped up the pace of unifying the Jurchens, and gradually conquered the four Jurchen tribes in Haixi. Then, the Mongolian and Barbarian Jurchens were gradually conquered by Nurhaci and Huang Taiji and his son.
But is Ming Dynasty the only one affected? otherwise. In the twenty-sixth year of Wanli, that is, at the end of 1598, Toyotomi Hideyoshi's army returned to Japan. After seven years of campaign, they achieved almost nothing.
They did take away many Korean slaves, who were later forced to work in farmland or sold in slave markets; they did take away Korean potters with advanced technology, and Japan's ceramic industry prospered; they did Taking away a large amount of copper movable type, it laid the foundation for the rapid development of Japan's printing industry in a short period of time.
In addition, thousands of rare books were plundered back to Japan, and many were included in the library built by Tokugawa Ieyasu, so the Japanese mastered the knowledge in the books. North Korea's paintings, scrolls, and religious objects also suffered heavy losses, and even stone pagodas and precious wood were not spared.
It was precisely because of these looted items that later Japanese people would call Toyotomi Hideyoshi's war of aggression on the mainland the "War of Ceramics" or the "War of Movable Type."
However, with the tens of thousands of Japanese soldiers who lost their lives, a reasonable estimate of the number of dead is between 70,000 and 80,000, some of whom died on the battlefield, and many more died of harsh environment and disease, and in order to support the Compared with the huge wealth and resources that this war extracted from the Japanese economy, the development of the cultural field can only be said to be better than nothing.
Without the ability to seize large amounts of new land, such a huge price would certainly outweigh the gains, and Hideyoshi's army failed to achieve these goals. Therefore, the Japanese summed up Hideyoshi's ambitious campaign to conquer Asia with another word: "The Battle of the Dragon Head and the Snake Tail", that is, it started with great ambitions but ended up empty-handed.
More than a year after the Battle of Korea, peace in Japan was in jeopardy. Toyotomi Hideyoshi's successor, Toyotomi Hideyori, was only five years old, and the "guardian" assigned to him by Toyotomi Hideyoshi, Maeda Toshiie, also died the following year. Tokugawa Ieyasu no longer had strong constraints.
The clouds of war hang over all of Japan, and the two camps of the civil war begin to be drawn.
On one side is Tokugawa Ieyasu, who is considered the most powerful daimyo in Japan in the post-Hideyoshi era. He has received more and more support, so he is even more powerful.
Most of the daimyo who supported Tokugawa were in East Japan, and Tokugawa's own territory was also here. Veteran generals who participated in the Korean War, such as Kuroda Nagamasa, Nabeshima Naoshima, Mune Yoshitomo, and Kato Kiyomasa, who was loyal to Hideyoshi. The example of Kato supporting Tokugawa well illustrates that the daimyo was only loyal to Hideyoshi himself, so in his Quickly change sides after death.
The other side was a loose alliance of anti-Tokugawa daimyo, mainly from western Japan, headed by Mitsunari Ishida, one of the Five Advocates. Like Tokugawa, Ishida claimed that he was simply protecting Hideyoshi's legacy, but in fact he also harbored personal ambitions to seize control.
The names who supported him include the following people: Ukita Hideie, an important figure in the Battle of Korea, was the nominal general of the Japanese army invading Korea during the Imjin War, and was one of the five elders who swore to protect Hideyori; Another among them was Mouri Terumoto, who once commanded the Japanese navy and fought against Admiral Yi Sun-shin; Kyushu's Christian daimyo Konishi Kyōchō, who was a pioneer in both invasions and participated in planning most of the diplomatic scams during the armistice; The winner of the Battle of Sagawa was Shimazu Yoshihiro, who cut off a large number of noses as trophies; Kobayakawa Hideaki, he was the adopted son of Kobayakawa Takakage, the latter was a Kyushu daimyo who defeated the Ming army in the Battle of Hokutokan in 1593. The old Long Jing died in 1593 at the age of sixty-five without any heirs.
The Sekigahara War ended with the victory of the Eastern Army. After the war, what was called "the largest transfer of feudal lords in Japanese history" occurred. The territories of the eighty-seven daimyo who opposed Tokugawa were confiscated and then rewarded to the lucky ones. The name of the camp.
In this unprecedented turmoil, Toyotomi Hideyoshi's son Hideyori was not deposed. He retained Osaka Castle and its surrounding territory of 650,000 koku. Although it was only one-third of what his father had left, he was still one of the largest daimyo in Japan.
Tokugawa Ieyasu knew that the time was not yet ripe to get rid of the child, and the Japanese had not forgotten Hideyoshi's authority. It is only two years since Taiko's death. If we choose to completely overthrow the Toyotomi family at this time, those daimyo who have just sworn allegiance to Tokugawa will inevitably become rebellious, the alliance will inevitably collapse, and some daimyo will choose to side with Hideyori. From the victory of the Sekigahara War to the destruction of the Toyotomi family, Tokugawa Ieyasu waited patiently for another fourteen years.
At the same time, the Imjin War had a much greater impact on Korea than on Japan. During the war, tens of thousands of Koreans died as a direct result of Hideyoshi's aggression, including soldiers who suffered bloody battles and unarmed civilians. In addition, the war caused a large number of people to be displaced, and many people died from famine and disease that ensued. Coupled with those who were robbed as slaves and never returned home, North Korea's population loss is likely to be as high as two hundred million, accounting for approximately 20% of the country's total population.
The scorched-earth policy implemented by the Japanese during the second invasion and the phenomenon of farmers abandoning their fields and fleeing caused a heavy blow to the North Korean economy, especially the granary Gyeongsang Province and Jeolla Province in the south. The loss rate of North Korea's farmland was as high as four-fifths, which not only meant a serious shortage of food supplies, but also meant a significant reduction in government tax revenue, which the government at the time desperately needed to rebuild the country.
North Korea never fully recovered from this blow, and a hundred years after the war ended, the amount of arable land it had still had not returned to pre-war levels. Two hundred and fifty years after the war ended, Gyeongbokgung Palace, the former royal palace, is still in ruins.
This decline led to another serious consequence, that is, when Nurhaci established the Later Jin Dynasty, due to the influence of the Little Ice Age and Nurhaci's own self-destructive policy of excluding the Han people, the Later Jin Dynasty began to suffer from severe famine, and later had to go south to conquer North Korea—— North Korea collapsed at the first touch and was forced to pay tribute. It began to pay tribute to both the Ming Dynasty and the Later Jin Dynasty. The country was in dire straits and was in chaos.
The situation throughout Northeast Asia has been affected by this war, and almost all of it has a negative impact. This is obviously not in line with the high pragmatic ideal - he hopes to combine these forces to fight against the "west wind spreading eastward".
How to minimize the negative impact of the Renchen War and at the same time use this war to achieve his "ulterior" purpose, this is the real reason why Gao Pragmatic is worried like a parent.
However, Gao Jingshi was worried that his back-up arrangements were too late, which somewhat underestimated Gao Yimin, or underestimated Jinghua's power in Liaodong.
Gao Yimin was a man who could lead troops. He judged that since Cao Yun's army had just passed by and Nurhaci was surrounded on three sides and could not leave any extra troops wandering outside, it would undoubtedly be safe to pursue him along the way.
Therefore, Gao Yimin led three hundred servants in Liaoyang with high pragmatic orders and went straight to Fushun Pass to chase Cao Yu's army.
Although Fushun Pass is a border pass, it is now in the Ming Dynasty, and the rules of the border are completely different from those of later generations. To put it simply, it is very troublesome for Jurchens to enter the customs and requires a lot of procedures, but it is very convenient and almost unimpeded for Ming people to leave the customs - after all, the Jurchen countries outside the customs are nominally the Ming Dynasty's guardhouses. There is no reason for me to be clear about it. People actually can't go.
Ordinary people can get out of seclusion, let alone Gao Yimin. Under his leadership, the three hundred cavalrymen made snow like dust and headed east along the Hun River Valley. They arrived outside the city of Hetuala before Yang Yuan arrived.
Calculating the time, it was the time when the three generals of the Ming army were meeting, and Gao Pragmatic and Liu Xin were discussing the Jurchen situation.
"Report!" A voice came from outside Cao Yu's tent, calling the soldiers: "Commander, the senior staff officer of Jinghua wants to see you."
Cao Yu was stunned and asked: "Which senior staff officer is Mr. Yimin?"
The outsider replied: "Yes, Marshal."
"Where is Mr. Yimin?" Cao Yu stood up quickly and said to Qi Jin and Ma Chengxun: "Mr. Yimin must be here for something important at this time. I will wait out the tent to welcome you." Qi Jin and Ma Chengxun Xun stood up happily, although Cao Yu went out of the tent together.
Gao Yimin is just a highly pragmatic servant with some status in Beijing and Liaodong. He is not worthy of being welcomed personally by the deputy commander-in-chief. However, Cao Yan has actually explained the reason just now: the war has reached this point, but Gao Yimin is here, then There must be something important. Moreover, Gao Yimin would never take the initiative to intervene in anything, he could only come following Gao's pragmatic orders.
Since he is Gao Situ's messenger or even representative, how can he not welcome him? Looking back, if Gao Yimin mentions that Cao is arrogant and rude in his report to Gao Situ, what will Gao Situ think? That’s great!
As soon as he came out of the commander's tent, Cao Yu heard a familiar voice saying with a smile: "Mr. Cao is fine, but the Yimin are here to bother you again."
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