The imperial meeting at the Wenhua Palace did not reach an agreement. The emperor stopped the meeting on the grounds of fatigue and ordered the elders to return to the cabinet for further discussion. But soon after the elders returned to the palace, the palace ordered the Ministry of Husbandry and the Ministry of War to summon the two ministers to discuss matters. Gao Pragmatic and Zhou Yong entered the palace according to the order.
However, there was not much to express during this meeting. Gao Pingshi impressed the young emperor after analyzing the general situation. Especially the "Heavenly Khan" hat once worn on the head of Emperor Taizong of the Tang Dynasty made His Majesty the Emperor who was dedicated to carrying forward the Ming Dynasty's "ancestral wishes" very itchy.
According to Gao Pragmatic's statement, powerful force should be drawn out like a retracted fist, so that it can be more deterrent. At the same time, it should be supplemented by flexible and powerful political and economic means to "control the captives and drive them to my advantage." Then the great cause of "Khan of Heaven" is not far away.
As for the expenses, according to a highly pragmatic and deceptive calculation... Oh, a calculation, to the emperor's ears, it is almost a business where the left hand goes out and the right hand comes in. Even if it does not make money, at least it will not lose anything. The Ministry of Revenue is now fully able to afford it. .
In addition, Gao Pragmatic also emphasized that since a war will be launched after the spring of next year, it is even more impossible to chill these subordinate forces before the war. The emperor was convinced of this. Then he asked Gao Pragmatic what he thought of the performance of Xiao Ruxun and other generals in this battle.
Xiao Ruxun was actually the one who urged Gao Jingshi to be transferred to Liaodong at that time. Zhu Yijun had already "set the answer" when he asked Gao Jingshi, thinking that Gao Jingshi would definitely find various reasons for him to prove his merit. However, this is to underestimate Gao Situ. Gao pragmatically evaluated Xiao Ruxun as "an average performance" and said that he had "neither special achievements nor major faults" in this battle.
This evaluation was originally the emperor's innermost thoughts, but just now no one in the cabinet held this view, which made the emperor extremely unhappy. The cabinet just made a total of three performances:
One group believed that Xiao Ruxun's performance was poor. He used the most elite cavalry as the backbone and brought along the "four coalition forces". He was actually led by the Chahar "partisan army" at first and failed to effectively attack this partial army. In the end, he almost failed. After being successfully attacked by others, the results of the counter-attack were not ideal. They suffered more losses than the enemy. They were extremely incompetent. This faction obviously did not agree with Xiao Ruxun's statement of "seriously injuring more than 3,000 enemy troops." .
The other faction is just the opposite, believing that Xiao Ruxun's battle was the only large-scale proactive military deployment against Mongolia in northern Xinjiang in decades by the Ming Dynasty, except for the Battle of Monan. Although we failed to fight a battle of annihilation, our officers and soldiers suffered very few casualties, and the casualties suffered mainly came from the "four coalition forces".
How can we blame Xiao Ruxun for the lack of combat power of the four coalition forces? Considering the limited strength of our military headquarters, it was a complete surprise to be able to fight like this. Moreover, he also completed the strategic goal of repelling Chahar, not only saving Horqin, but also stabilizing Yehe. It can be seen that Xiao Ruxun not only has merit, but also has great merit and should be rewarded.
As for the third faction, this time it was even worse than usual. Even if the emperor asked by name, the answer he got was "I don't dare to disturb the Holy Chariot because I don't have the right to serve in the army", which was obviously "we won't get involved in this matter", which made Zhu Yijun so angry that he wanted to roll his eyes on the spot.
In the end, this old classmate who was highly pragmatic was willing to tell the truth. There was no black or white, either/or, and he gave a fair evaluation of "mediocre performance", which made Zhu Yijun nod his head in agreement.
However, "mediocre performance" is mediocre performance. When Zhu Yijun asked how to deal with the thorny issue of military merit, Gao Pragmatic firmly advocated "rewarding".
Zhu Yijun asked why this was happening, and Gao pragmatically explained: "The same reason for rewarding the four tribes is to buy horse bones for a thousand gold." The emperor was suddenly surprised when he heard this.
Yes, Xiao Ruxun's credit for this battle is not that big, but since there will be a war next spring, now giving a heavy reward to Xiao Ruxun, who has not made much credit, won't it inspire the generals of all parties who will participate in the war next year?
They will think: Xiao Ruxun received a heavy reward for fighting like this in this battle. If I really made a great contribution, then I shouldn't be granted the title of Marquis...er, the Governor? The pinnacle of life is right in front of you, if you don't work hard, how long will it be?
So the emperor asked Zhou Benbing how to arrange the reward. How could Zhou Benbing dare to make random ideas? Fortunately, he had already asked Gao Pragmatic on the way into the palace, so he could come up with a plan in his spare time. This plan actually didn't mean much. In addition to the usual thirty taels of silver, the Yin Yizi guarding thousands of households in royal robes, and the promotion to the governor of the Right Army Governor's Mansion, he was also given unicorn uniforms.
According to Xiao Ruxun's position as the deputy commander-in-chief of Liaodong, receiving the above rewards is not too unusual, but being given the Kirin uniform is a bit out of the ordinary. It is obviously a generous reward. And in this way, Liaodong now has two Kirin uniforms - in addition to Xiao Ruxun, the other one belongs to Li Rusong, which was given after the final decisive victory in the Northwest Battle.
According to Zhou Yong, doing this is also a spur to Li Rusong, who has always been proud and arrogant. The emperor thought about it and thought it made sense, so the matter was roughly settled. Afterwards, the emperor asked about various matters related to next year's war. Gao Pragmatic and Zhou Yong answered them one by one. It was almost when the palace was about to be banned that they returned to their respective offices.
In the next two or three months, the Ming Dynasty rewarded Xiao Ruxun and his generals generously in accordance with Gao's pragmatic ideas, and generously awarded the Tumut, Horqin and Manchu tribes, allowing these subordinate forces to unite more closely under the banner of Zhu Yijun, the emperor of the Ming Dynasty. His Majesty is the core of the Celestial Empire.
In the past two or three months, in addition to more intense and active preparations for war, several more important things have happened. There are two matters concerning state affairs.
The first thing was that Nurhachi, the commander of Jianzhou Left Guard, sent his half-brother Mulhaqi as an envoy to come to Beijing to pay tribute on his behalf. As a tribute during this trip, Jianzhou Zuowei presented various treasures such as 108 top-quality East beads, 100 catties of Laoshan parameters, and a piece of white tiger skin. The performance was extremely respectful and humble, and the flattering words to the emperor were not stingy and not disgusting at all.
Of course, at the end of the performance, Nurhachi asked the Ming Dynasty in a very humble tone to allow Jianzhou Zuowei to participate in the horse market at Crow Falcon Pass or go to Kuandian Fort.
The imperial court had another round of disputes over this matter. In the end, Gao's pragmatic suggestion was still the most satisfactory to the emperor: allowing the Jianzhou left guard to go to Kuandian to participate in the horse market, but requiring that the guard must "follow the order in the future" - that time When I want to fight, you must send troops to accompany me.
Gao Pragmatic is betting on one thing: Nurhaci has not mastered the "blanching method" yet. Before the Ming Dynasty, after dividing Jianzhou into two, the horse market trade of Jianzhou Zuowei was cut off. The ginseng in Nurhachi's hands could not be sold, and there was no "blanching method" to preserve ginseng. It would only rot after expiration, causing natural losses. heavy.
Although he relied on the success of the three expeditions to the Changbai Mountains - well, it was half successful (it was destroyed by Ye He and other tribes, so he did not complete the work) and supplemented his strength, but it is obvious that he still cannot bear it in the long run, so he can only accept the Ming Dynasty requirements.
In the end, the two sides agreed that once the Ming Dynasty had military operations in Liaodong and the surrounding areas, the Jianzhou Left Guards would be required to send 10% of the total number of troops sent by the Ming Dynasty, but the maximum number of troops to accompany the troops would not exceed 5,000.
This is easy to understand. It means that if the Ming Dynasty sends 10,000 troops, Nurhaci must send 1,000 troops; if the Ming Dynasty sends 50,000 troops, Nurhaci must send 5,000 troops; but no matter how high it is, it is useless. Even if the Ming Dynasty sends 500,000 troops, Nurhaci will still Send five thousand troops - because Nurhachi said that he only had so many troops in the left guard of Jianzhou, and he couldn't even bring in the old, weak, women and children to make up the number.
However, although Nurhachi agreed, there were still conditions. The main conditions were economic. He said that the area under the jurisdiction of Jianzhou Zuowei now is extremely remote and extremely poor. Therefore, if the court really needs him to send troops, he can only support a thousand men and horses, and the extra horses will be drafted. The court will need to provide military rations.
Although this may sound reasonable, it is actually not in line with the Ming Dynasty's recruitment habits. As we all know, even the southwestern chieftains prepared their own dry food when they sent troops to join the expedition, and the court was basically not responsible for logistical issues.
For example, when Jiangxi suppressed bandits, at least tens of thousands of Guangxi wolf soldiers were mobilized, but the food and grass provided to them by the court also had to be paid for. The reason was that the chieftains had to prepare their own soldiers and army rations during the expedition. The court only considered that it was inconvenient for them to carry them. Allow them to exchange money for food - in fact, the chieftains have no money, most of them rely on earning silver rewards from wars, and then using the reward money to buy military rations.
In short, the southwestern chieftains are definitely more "people of their own" than the Jurchens. None of them have received the treatment of "eating the royal grain". You, a mere Jianzhou left guard, actually want to make an exception?
However, Gao Situ, who controlled the world's financial power, agreed on the spot with a wave of his hand, saying that if that day comes, the court "will not starve to death even one person in your tribe." Nurhachi accepted it after learning that it was Gao Pragmatic who had personally agreed.
In fact, Gao Pragmatic was playing a trick here. He only said, "I will not starve to death." He did not explain clearly what they would eat, nor how full they would be. Gao Pragmatic even has a very "vicious" plan. Once the Jianzhou Zuowei will have up to four to five thousand soldiers and horses in the future, and the place of expedition is far away from the old camp of the Jianzhou Zuowei... then if it is done correctly, maybe only You can hold people firmly in your hands just by relying on military rations.
Of course, these are just leaving a backdoor. It’s hard to say whether it will be able to be used later, but having this backdoor is better than nothing, right?
The second incident happened in the southwest. Liu Wei was promoted to the chief military officer of Sichuan by the Ministry of War on the grounds that he had "served meritoriously in guarding Burma" and was stationed in Xuzhou.
It should be explained here that in the Ming Dynasty, the Sichuan General Army was often stationed not in Chengdu Prefecture, nor in Chongqing Prefecture, but in Xuzhou in the south. Although there is very little information explaining the reasons in detail, it is actually not difficult to guess: the focus of Chengdu's defense lies on the west, but the west has always been relatively honest and has little defense pressure, and the Ming Dynasty has specially set up the "Sichuan Capital Command Department" in western Sichuan. ", somewhat similar to the deputy commander-in-chief of Liaodong, who is responsible for the defense of this area. The commander-in-chief generally does not intervene and take charge;
There are two larger chieftains to the east of Chongqing Prefecture, namely Shili Xuanweisi and Youyang Xuanweisi. These two chieftains are not only honest, but also very obedient, and they are also particularly good at fighting. Among them, Shili Xuanwei Division is the most famous - the famous white-pole soldier Qin Liangyu Division is this company. For this reason, there was no pressure on Chongqing and there was no need for a general military officer to be stationed. Therefore, there was only one "deputy envoy to patrol Sichuan East Road to manage Chongqing and produce Bozhou".
An important place named Bozhou appeared here, and this Bozhou was very crucial - the Bozhou Rebellion originated here. Bozhou is located south of Chongqing and is nominally under the jurisdiction of the deputy envoy from Chongqing. However, Bozhou is a place that is both powerful and not very honest, so Chongqing alone may not be able to rely on it, so a strong coercion is needed west of Bozhou.
This coercion is the Sichuan Chief Military Officer. In addition to his general duties covering the whole of Sichuan, his most important duty is to suppress Bozhou in the east and several chieftains in the south, such as Zhenxiong Mansion, Wumeng Military and Civilian Mansion, and Wusa Military and Civilian Mansion. , Dongchuan Military and Civilian Mansion, etc. In addition, there is the Zunyi Military and Civilian Mansion in the direction of Bozhou. Although there are Liuguan at the upper level, there are still a lot of small chieftains and local chieftains at the bottom, and sometimes they are not very reliable.
In short, the Sichuan General Troops are stationed in Xuzhou in the southeast of Sichuan. Their main areas of responsibility are also in the east and south of Sichuan, and they even have to cross the border to deter Guizhou. This is also the reason why the rebellion of Jiu Si Man and Du Zhang Man was clearly located in Guizhou, but it was the governor of Sichuan who suggested that Liu Xian be used as the commander-in-chief to send out troops to annihilate them. At this time, Guizhou was dominated by chieftain forces, so if something went wrong, We had no choice but to let Sichuan send troops to settle the matter.
Gao Pangshi had already considered sending Liu Wei to Sichuan before, but this time there is no doubt that the reason why Liu Wei was transferred there quickly is because he will launch troops against Chahar next year. Historically, Yang Yinglong launched the Bozhou Rebellion to take advantage of the Ming Dynasty's war to aid Korea. The war to aid Korea has not yet happened, but a decisive battle with the Mongols is about to take place. Who knows if Yang Yinglong will suffer from seizures? Naturally, Liu Wei must be arranged in place first, so as not to cause trouble when the time comes and he will be in a hurry.
In fact, Gao Pingshi had an impulse earlier and wanted to deal with Yang Yinglong in advance. However, after planning the matter for a while, he found that it was not easy to handle. For an "orthodox" person, it is very taboo to punish someone without guilt. It will greatly reduce the prestige of the court and be classified as the tyranny of a tyrant.
Gao Jingshi also thought about making Yang Yinglong jump out, but although Yang Yinglong was arrogant, he was not stupid enough. The Ming Dynasty has won various great victories in the southern and northern wars in recent years, and it seems that it is full of military virtue. He, the emperor of Bozhou, thinks that he cannot challenge the true emperor of the capital, and he thinks that he is not willing to mess around.
Since the method of luring the snake out of the cave didn't work, Gao Pragmatic had no choice but to fight stupidly. The purpose of transferring Liu Wei to Xuzhou was to frighten Yang Yinglong. As for whether Yang Yinglong would make a fuss next year after the imperial army went out for the Northern Expedition, Gao Pragmatic really couldn't care less. Anyway, he was prepared for the worst. If Yang Yinglong really wanted to make trouble, he would let Liu Wei fight it.
In fact, Gao Pragmatic hoped that Yang Yinglong would cause trouble. After all, there were too many chieftains in Guizhou and nearby areas. The imperial court always needed to station heavy troops nearby, which itself was a big burden. If we can take advantage of the opportunity of annihilating Yang Yinglong to "cut down the feudal vassal" in Guizhou and return as many chieftains as possible to their native lands, it will actually be of great benefit to the court.
In addition to these two state affairs incidents, there were of course some private matters that occurred in the past two or three months, which were also relatively important.
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