In the past twenty years, Chen Ju often visited Gao Pangshi's house and was a frequent visitor to Gao's house. However, since the last time the emperor ordered Huang Mengyu to retire, Chen Ju has rarely come, so his coming to Gaofu today can even be regarded as an ice-breaking trip in a sense - not that it is between him and Gao Pragmatic There is "ice", but it is breaking the ice on behalf of the emperor.
The eunuch in charge of the ceremonial department came in person to "bring a message", which meant that the emperor believed that the relationship between him and Gao Pangshi had not been affected by the previous events. The emperor and his ministers were still very close, and even important national affairs could be "privately discussed" "Talk" - this was the treatment Gao Pragmatic enjoyed when he was a reading companion in the past. At that time, he had the hat of "watching politics".
To be honest, Zhu Yijun's move was somewhat beyond Gao Pragmatic's expectations.
Judging from Zhu Yijun's original words directly recounted by Chen Ju, His Majesty the Emperor obviously guessed Gao's pragmatic stance, that is, the court's focus will turn to Liaodong, and it must be ready for war and intervention at any time, so he said "If He feels that this matter will eventually involve a fight, so let him arrange how to fight."
But the problem is that Gao Wuzhen's current position is the Minister of the Ministry of Household Affairs, which has nothing to do with the Ministry of War, which is responsible for combat affairs, and has nothing to do with the Metropolitan Procuratorate, which often dispatches officials to the border areas in name. Since the official system of the Ming Dynasty is an ancestral system, generally It is not easy to say that, so the governors and governors of each town are all officials sent from the central government. They are often the Minister of the Ministry of War, the Minister of the Ministry of War, the censor of the right capital of the Metropolitan Procuratorate, the censors of the left and right deputy capitals, and the censors of the left and right capitals. Historical title.
Although these governors have actually become local feudal officials, they still belong to the central system in terms of official system. Their power does not come from the establishment, but from the imperial decree.
Under this system, the nominal superiors of the governors were their superiors, such as the Minister of War and the Yushi of Zuodu, but in fact they only needed to be responsible to the emperor because they were appointed by the emperor.
Some people may want to ask: What about the cabinet?
Zhu Yuanzhang abolished the Zhongshu Province after the Hu Weiyong case, so the formal "power of the prime minister" no longer existed in the system. The power of the cabinet now actually is to "act on behalf of part of the imperial power." In the final analysis, the power of the cabinet comes from the transfer of imperial power-whatever the reasons for this transfer came and continue to this day.
In other words, normally if Liaodong wants to go to war, whether it is to actively send troops to intervene, or to rescue after Tumen launches an attack on Horqin or even Yehe, the only people related to it are the emperor, the cabinet, the Minister of War, and Zuo Du There were only a few people including the Censor, who basically had nothing to do with Gao Pingshi, the Minister of Household Affairs - unless the emperor summoned him and asked him if he could provide military pay, then it would be considered relevant to him. In short, the war would definitely not be under his control.
However, the emperor's message was private, that is to say, he asked Gao Pangshi to do the work of the cabinet and the Minister of War in private, and put forward his ideas through the mouth of the Minister of War, and then the emperor confirmed it.
Gao Pragmatic always felt that this seemed to be a bit of backroom politics, but he was not sure what the emperor's purpose was.
Is this to express to Gao Jingshi that he still trusts him, or does the emperor believe that it is safe to let Gao Jingshi make the decision regarding the war, or is there another purpose?
The possibility of the first two is very high, maybe both, but Gao Pragmatic has always preferred to think more than to think less, so he is still very careful to think about whether the emperor has other purposes for doing this.
After Chen Ju left, Gao Jingshi stood on the balcony of Rixin Building facing Shichahai and seemed to be watching the scenery. In fact, he kept making calculations in his mind. After a long while, he thought of a possibility. This possibility was based on the current situation of Jiliao Second Town. The situation comes.
Although Jizhou and Liaodong are both under the jurisdiction of Jiliao Governor-General, they have always been two towns. Jizhen is Jizhen, and Liaodong is Liaodong. Not only do the two towns have their own generals, but they also have different governors.
From the perspective of the governor's jurisdiction, Ji Town is under the jurisdiction of Governor Shuntian, and Liaodong is of course under the jurisdiction of the Governor of Liaodong. What is interesting is that the current main military and political officials in Ji and Liao belong to different factions.
At this moment, the governor of Jiliao is Li Song, the former governor of Liaodong who succeeded Zhou Yong. Of course, he belongs to the Xin School, and his responsibility is to be in charge of the military affairs of Jiliao Town; the governor of Shuntian is named Cheng Xun, and he belongs to the Shi School, and is in charge of the military affairs of Shuntian; Gu Yangqian, the governor of Liaodong, belongs to the Shi school; Cao Yu, the commander-in-chief of Jizhen, belongs to the Shi school; Li Rusong, the commander-in-chief of Liaodong, belongs to the faction... It should be the Suxin school.
This situation is very interesting. The forces of the Practical School and the Heart School are intertwined in Jiliao Town. The nominally highest military officer was Li Song, the governor of Jiliao, but the governors of the Ming Dynasty had always had the power to manage the army. When the war actually broke out, it was the general soldiers who were directly responsible for leading the army.
This means that if this battle started now, almost no one would be sure whose orders the troops below were ultimately acting on. It might be an order to control the army, it might be an order to support the army, or it might be an order from the general. Who knows who the people below should listen to.
As for the several Jiliao officials mentioned above, the others are all old acquaintances, so I won’t introduce them here. I will mainly talk about Cheng Xun, the governor of Shuntian. This is the first time this person has appeared.
Cheng Xun, courtesy name Weiqian, was born in Changyuan County. In the fifth year of Emperor Mu Zong's reign (1571), Xin Weike became a Jinshi and was first awarded the title of Magistrate of Nanyang County. Because of his practical administration, he was promoted to the head of the Ministry of Civil Affairs, served as a counselor in Shandong, and as deputy envoy of Yongping Military Preparation, and went to Shanxi to inspect the envoy. In September of the 19th year of Wanli, Ji Chou was appointed governor of Shuntian to this day.
In his hometown, he had a reputation of being courteous to fellow villagers and being extremely filial to his stepmother. He also taught his two younger brothers to study diligently and make progress, and the village sergeants all imitated him. One of the younger brothers became enlightened and was elected in the Wanli Jimao year (1579).
Changyuan County belonged to Henan in later generations, but in the Ming Dynasty it belonged to Daming Prefecture of Northern Zhili Province, so it was not considered a high-arching and pragmatic township party. However, Chengxun was a Jinshi in the fifth year of Longqing, and the examiner that year was Zhang Siwei . Cheng Xun worshiped Zhang Siwei as his teacher, so he became a member of the Shi School.
Since he has become a member of the Real School and a disciple of his former chief assistant Zhang Siwei, naturally his future is basically promising as long as nothing happens to him.
It can also be seen from his resume that although his starting standard was not high when he first became an official and he was not able to stay in the capital but was sent to the county magistrate, he was still considered a powerful official and was not very bad. Moreover, he was appointed as the county magistrate. The place is Nanyang County, which is even more particular.
Nanyang County is the seat of Nanyang Prefecture, and its land belongs to Henan. Henan! During the Long and Wan eras of this life, Henan represented the "home province" of the Real School. Those who were born in the Real School were sent to Henan when they first took office. This was the treatment that only the trusted disciples of the big brothers of the Real School could receive.
Nanyang (Prefecture) was a developed area during the Han Dynasty. Later, with the gradual development of the Yangtze River Basin, although it was a bit worse than during the Han Dynasty, it was still a good place in Henan. Nanyang County, as the seat of Nanyang Prefecture, is the most developed area in Nanyang Prefecture. It is obviously easiest to "make achievements" as a county magistrate here, so Cheng Xun "was promoted to the head of the civil service department because of his practical administration."
What is Cheng Xun's biggest practical achievement in Nanyang County? It was during his tenure that he introduced the investment of Jinghua Cement Factory to Nanyang County and built the Nanyang Branch of Jinghua Cement Factory.
In Nanyang, clay, marble, cement limestone and other minerals for making cement are relatively abundant, so Gao Pragmatic allowed the establishment of the fourth branch of Jinghua Cement Factory, forming a win-win situation with Chengxun.
By the way, the Wucheng Alkali Mine in Tongbai County, Asia’s largest trona mine, which was mentioned earlier when talking about glass manufacturing, also falls under the jurisdiction of Nanyang Prefecture. Its mining area is only two hundred miles away from Nanyang County, which is governed by the prefecture.
When Gao Pragmatic developed the alkali mine on a small scale, he also took advantage of Cheng Xun's official reputation in southern Henan to allow him to more smoothly obtain the land in the area where the alkali mine belongs - after all, mining can drive employment, create profits and increase income. This benefit is common to both ancient and modern times, both at home and abroad.
Of course, the premise is that capital-style mining like Jinghua's does, rather than the kind of eunuch supervision and royal mining that Wanli did in the original history (even if the majority of the mining tax is actually commercial tax, mining is still real), mining is a supplement. , squeezing or even extorting local wealthy households is the main "profit".
All in all, Cheng Xun was promoted through the step-by-step "investment" of the Practical School to create "real politics". Of course, this does not mean that he himself is dispensable. If a land official is unable to cooperate, even if Gao Pragmatic is willing to invest, he may do something wrong - there will be many such officials in later generations, not to mention China in the 16th century? Therefore, the fact that he didn't do anything shows that he is capable.
In any case, his identity and background are now very clear: Zhang Siwei's disciple, a general of the Practical School, and Governor Shuntian who was personally supported by Gao Pragmatic.
Looking at it this way, from the perspective of the civil service system, the current situation in Jiliao is that the governor of Jiliao with the highest title is from the Xin School, while the governors of Jizhen and Liaodong are all from the Shi School, and both It belongs to the high pragmatic line of the pragmatic school.
Theoretically speaking, if a war breaks out between Ji and Liao, Li Song, the governor of Ji and Liao, should have the highest command authority (if the central government does not directly intervene), but specifically in the two towns of Ji Town and Liaodong, the two actual officers of the "Fu Army" The governor of the school can also give orders to the army - it depends on who the commander-in-chief listens to.
The commander-in-chief of Jizhen is Cao Yan. He was rescued from prison by Gao Jingshi. He later followed Gao Jingshi back to the top, and even got his wish and became the commander-in-chief, so he must have listened to Cheng Xun - —That is, listen to high-minded people and be pragmatic.
But there is a problem on his side, and that is the issue of residence. Governor Ji Liao has two stations, one is Miyun and the other is Zunhua; the station of Governor Shuntian is relatively stable and is stationed in Ji Town; but he, the commander-in-chief of Ji Town, is not stationed in Ji Town now, but is also stationed in Zunhua. ized.
Let me briefly explain here. Originally, the General Soldier of Ji Town could be stationed in either Ji Town or Zunhua. It mainly depended on where the General Soldier felt it was more dangerous and weak. He would be stationed there. Relatively speaking, Zunhua is closer to the border. It was often "patronized" by the Mongols in the past, so there were more general troops stationed in Zunhua - Qi Jiguang was an exception. He was in Ji Town most of the time, and the Mongols discovered after trying it several times. This might be a trap, so I don't want to play in his defense zone.
Later, under the command of Gao Jingshi, Qi Jiguang captured Daning, and the Ming Dynasty began to rebuild Daning City and insisted on garrisoning it. At this time, Zunhua was the closest border point to Daning, so its strategic position was even more important. The military officers then began to be stationed in Zunhua.
Okay, that's the explanation. In short, the current situation is like this: Cheng Xun, the governor of Shuntian, is stationed in Jizhen, while the three big bosses, the governor of Jiliao, the commander-in-chief of Jizhen, and the eunuch of the imperial envoy guarding Shanhaiguan, are stationed in Zunhua.
Therefore, the problem Cao Yu faced was that the governor was too far away and the governor was too close - close enough that he could give him orders face to face at any time.
The civilian governor gave orders to his commander in person. Unless the commander was not afraid of being beheaded on the spot with the Emperor's Sword, it would be difficult for him to have the courage to disobey the order. After all, if a military general was killed by the governor for refusing to obey orders, it might be difficult for even Gao Pragmatic to rehabilitate him.
The situation in Liaodong is not good either. Commander-in-Chief Li Rusong is stationed in Guangning, western Liaoning, while Governor Gu Yangqian is stationed in Liaoyang, Liaodong. The straight-line distance between the two places is two hundred and fifty miles. In fact, because the Liaohe Hetao area was not in the hands of the Ming Dynasty for a long time, the existing roads were detoured from the coast. The real distance is as high as three hundred and nearly four hundred miles. .
Therefore, if Li Rusong wanted to, he could ignore Fujun's order and act preemptively on the pretext that the order he received was not timely. Considering Li Rusong's temper, this is very likely to happen, and he can even say that he received the order from the governor first.
However, the above are all analyzed based on the premise that "the Ming Dynasty took the initiative to carry out comprehensive intervention", so Jizhen needs to be involved.
If the Ming Dynasty does not intend to fully intervene, then Jizhen can generally remain unchanged or only make feints. Even the western Liaoning area where Li Rusong is the chief military officer of Liaodong is not absolutely forced to move.
Referring to the previous situation where Cao Yu sent troops to rescue Ye He's tribe, if the deputy commander-in-chief of Liaodong could complete the rescue mission with the military strength east of the Liaohe River, he could also force the Jizhen and Liaoxi sides to stand still and put in a "suppression" strategy. Come with the attitude of "quiet, ready to go".
After much thought, Gao Pragmatic felt that this matter was somewhat troublesome. Although judging from the combat effectiveness of the Chahar tribe when Cao Yu sent troops to rescue Ye He last time, this time Xiao Ruxun (as mentioned earlier, he succeeded Cao Yu as the deputy commander-in-chief of Liaodong), as long as he can exert his normal combat effectiveness in Liaodong, he can rescue Ye He. There shouldn't be any big problem.
However, Xiao Ruxun and Cao Yu cannot be generalized. Xiao Ruxun was suddenly promoted to his current position because he defended the isolated city alone during the Northwest Rebellion. But this shows his ability to defend the city. It is not clear to Gao Pragmatic what his ability is in field combat.
Moreover, although Xiao Ruxun's unit was already considered a "Pan Shi School" in the early years, Yansui's side was not considered a direct descendant. The new firearms they obtained were very limited, and they may not be very familiar with the new tactical system promoted by Gao Pragmatic over the years.
This means that there may be differences in tactical habits between Xiao Ruxun and the current group of Xuan Da generals in Liaodong who are familiar with the new tactics. No one knows whether the two sides can cooperate perfectly.
Then there is the Horqin problem. If Liaodong only needs to help Ye He and defend Ye He without losing, then even if Xiao Ruxun and Xuanda generals are not familiar with the cooperation, as long as they can perform normally and not mess around, it should be said that they are very confident.
However, because of their geographical relationship, Ye He and Horqin were actually dependent on each other when facing Tumen. That is to say, if Ye He wants long-term peace, he must ensure that Horqin is not annexed. Otherwise, the Tumen can march in at any time. And without the protection of Horqin, Ye He, the next time the Tumen come, they may not even have time to ask for help from the Ming Dynasty. No.
Gao pragmatic frowned. Unexpectedly, after careful consideration of this issue, the trouble turned out to be how to keep Horqin.
This Horqin is now a "true nomad". To rescue them, it is almost impossible to send a force mainly composed of infantry. They can only deploy cavalry... How many cavalry can be mobilized from eastern Liaodong?
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