It is obviously not easy to convince Li Rusong.
Li Rusong is, at best, self-respecting and self-confident, but at worst, he is arrogant. In a civil society, as a military general, he has to be on an equal footing with civil servants all day long. This seems to be a kind of self-confidence, but in fact, it is essentially seeking death.
Politics is not war but is no less dangerous than war. On this battlefield, the person who decides the outcome is usually the emperor, and the emperor's decision can generally be expected, because even though the emperor apparently has the highest decision-making power, in fact he himself is still on the battlefield of political struggle.
This is easy to understand. If the emperor himself was not involved in the political struggle, why did Zhu Yijun in the original history play a cold war with the civil servants by not going to court for nearly 30 years?
Since the emperor himself was actually in the midst of a political struggle and could not escape it, all his actions must comply with some basic laws. For example, he will also be affected by the forces of all parties, and he must balance the interests of all parties, ensure the stability of the imperial power, etc.
This raises a question: Does the current emperor need a civilian group or a military general group more?
Sorry, first of all, this question itself has its own problems: Do generals still have cliques?
It seems that there is, but in the true sense, generals who can lead troops to fight are not considered a so-called "group". The military minister system of the Ming Dynasty had only one nominal group, the Wuchen Xungui Group. Unfortunately, the function of this group had degraded from leading troops in war to almost only providing some political endorsement for the emperor.
In addition, it is difficult to say that the generals who actually guard Jiubian and all over the country are worthy of the word "group" no matter what level they are at, because the foundation that supports them as a political group has long been completely destroyed by the civilian group. At present, they are fragmented and fighting on their own. They have long been trapped in a political ecology where they can only survive by relying on powerful civil servants.
What was the basis for them to become a "group" in the past? It is a kind of independence, an independence from civil servants.
To put it simply, when the Governor's Office of the Five Armies still has actual power, the generals will have a certain degree of independence; when the civilian-controlled Ministry of War completely overrides the Governor's Office of the Five Armies in terms of power, the status of the generals will be certain. It will drop, drop, and drop again, until all military generals have become the "little so-and-so" of the civil servants.
In the 16th year of Zhizheng in the Yuan Dynasty, after Zhu Yuanzhang led his army to capture Jiqing, he established the Privy Council based on the military leadership system of the Yuan Dynasty to command his officers and soldiers. As his strength increased, Zhu Yuanzhang established the Army Marshal's Mansion in Jiqing and the Wing Marshal's Mansion in various important areas to take charge of officers and soldiers in various places.
"When Taizu came to celebrate, he set up a Privy Council and led it himself. He also set up the Marshal's Mansion to lead the army."
In the 21st year of Zhengzheng Dynasty, after Zhu Yuanzhang defeated Chen Youliang in the Battle of Longwan, he abolished the Privy Council and established the Governor's Office. His nephew Zhu Wenzheng was appointed as the Governor to command his officers and soldiers.
"The Privy Council was abolished and the Metropolitan Governor's Office was established instead. Zhu Wenzheng was appointed as the Grand Governor to control the Chinese and foreign military affairs and set up officials such as Sima, Join the Army, Experience, and Capital Affairs."
In the 23rd year of Zhizheng, Zhu Wenzheng, who had made great achievements in the Battle of Hongdu, was dissatisfied with Zhu Yuanzhang's failure to reward his merits and plotted to launch a rebellion. Although Zhu Yuanzhang promptly dealt with Zhu Wenzheng after receiving the secret report, he was still determined to eliminate the power of the governor. There was a hidden danger of being too heavy, so he added left and right governors in the Metropolitan Governor's Mansion.
After the founding of the Ming Dynasty, military power was concentrated in the hands of a few generals in the governor's office. This obviously ran counter to Zhu Yuanzhang's idea of strengthening imperial power, so decentralizing power in the governor's office became his inevitable choice.
Therefore, in the thirteenth year of Hongwu, Zhu Yuanzhang divided the governor's office into five governors' offices: the central army, the left army, the right army, the front army, and the rear army. Each office had a left and right governor, each with the same rank. In this way, the Fifth Army Governor's Office inherited the highest military command power of the Metropolitan Governor's Office and was in charge of all guard posts except the Twelve Guards of the pro-army army, but it lost the power to mobilize troops.
Even so, from the 13th year of Hongwu to the 14th year of Zhengtong, the power of the Fifth Army Governor's Office was still very great. The selection and replacement of guard generals, the training of guard soldiers, the management of military households and farmland, and the acquisition of military intelligence were all important to the Fifth Army. The Dudu Mansion is in charge. In addition, major military operations related to national security require consultation between the emperor and the governors of the Fifth Army Governor's Office before they can be decided.
What does the great power of the Fifth Military Governor's Office mean to the civilian clique? Of course, this means that the status of the Ministry of War under civilian control is low. At that time, not only was the Ministry of War not allowed to participate in the deliberations of major military operations, but even the Ministry of War was not allowed to intervene in the affairs of the Fifth Army Governor's Mansion. In this way, the Ministry of War was actually just the information transmission agency for the emperor to issue troop deployment orders to the Five Military Governors.
"The ancestral building of the Governor's Mansion of the Five Armies was not allowed to be heard by outsiders, but the governor's name was printed in the palm of the hand. Kuang Ye, the former minister of the Ministry of War, asked Gongshun Hou Wu for a list of names to check. Wu reported it as usual, and Kuang panicked and thanked him."
However, with the sudden death of Xuanzong in the first month of the 10th year of Xuande, the Sanyang cabinet took advantage of Yingzong's youth and promoted Wang Ji, Minister of the Ministry of War, to the position of commander-in-chief of the Ming army in the Battle of Luchuan. This was the first time that the Ministry of War came into contact with the Ming Dynasty. to real military command.
Under the leadership of Wang Ji, the Ming army confirmed victory in the Battle of Luchuan three times in a row. The civil servants of the Ministry of War, who had always shown themselves to be elegant, fully demonstrated their ability to control wars. However, there are a large number of military generals with outstanding military exploits and titles sitting in the Governor's Mansion of the Five Armies, and the rise of the Ministry of War's status is still faced with many obstacles.
Under such circumstances, the Tumu Fort Incident provided an excellent opportunity for the rise of the Ministry of War.
In the Tumubao Incident, Yingzong was captured and more than half of the 200,000 Ming troops who participated in the battle were lost. The backbone of the military generals group was the British Duke Zhang Fu, Taining Marquis Chen Ying, Prince Consort Jing Yuan, Pingxiang Bo Chen Huai, and Xiang Bo. City Bo Li Zhen and others, as well as the new forces who had been carefully trained by them, were all killed in the battle.
On the other hand, in the ensuing battle to defend the capital, Yu Qian, the Minister of War, turned the tide almost single-handedly. This left an impression on the world that he had to rely on civil servants at critical moments. Therefore, after Emperor Jingtai ascended the throne, with Yu Qian as Admiral in charge of the capital camp, the status of the Ministry of War began to rise rapidly, and the power of the Fifth Army Governor's Office began to gradually weaken.
During the Jingtai period, Zhu Qiyu would discuss with Yu Qian every time there was a major military operation, and the selection and replacement of generals of the guard station and the training of the soldiers of the guard station were all returned to the Ministry of War. The power of the Fifth Army Governor's Office was only to manage military household registration. and tuntian, etc., the status of the Ministry of War has risen.
After the restoration of Yingzong, although the Ministry of War was suppressed by abolishing the regiments and camps set up by Yu Qian and recalling civil servants from all over the world, with Shi Heng being executed for his evil intentions, the Ming Dynasty finally completely shifted from emphasizing both civil and military affairs to emphasizing culture and suppressing military affairs.
During the Chenghua and Hongzhi years, even the power to manage military household registrations was returned to the Ministry of War. The Fifth Army Governor's Office was completely reduced to a department in name only. Almost all the various left and right governors in the Governor's Office became in some sense The official gift and the name.
"Anyone who is in Beijing and is serving as a military officer outside the country will be sent to the palace by the Du Si Wei Office, who will then send a report to the Ministry of War for a decision. All subsequent reports will be transferred to the Ministry of War."
The Fifth Army Governor's Mansion and even the emperor himself did not think about struggling. For example, during the Zhengde period, Wu Zong suppressed the status of the Ministry of War by favoring military general Jiang Bin and establishing two official offices, but... Wu Zong died immediately. Whether he was "died" or not has been unable to be proven by later generations. In short, the result was that all efforts were in vain.
In this way, during the Jiajing period, the remaining power of the Fifth Army Governor's Office to manage military households and farmland was also transferred to the Ministry of Household Affairs. The Fifth Army Governor's Office became a completely dispensable department. The left and right governors of the Fifth Army Governor's Office It has also completely become an honorary title for military commanders. After that, in all battles, military generals were controlled by governors or governors with the title of Ministry of War. Of course, managers like Gao Pragmatic and the supervisors who appeared later were even better.
"Whenever there is a large number of soldiers and horses in the world, it is the right time to transfer, move and conquer. In the thirteenth year, the governor's office was divided into the governor's office of the five armies. If he thought that his rank was the same as before, the military department was moved. Therefore, their powers are gradually divided. The so-called five governors only keep empty names and empty numbers."
From Gao's pragmatic point of view, the decline of the Fifth Army Governor's Mansion was inevitable. Even if he looked at it from the perspective of future generations, this decline trend itself was inevitable. It was just a matter of time.
In the dynasties after the Qin and Han dynasties, there was no strict distinction between generals and civil servants. What the rulers most valued in their ministers was actually having both civil and military skills. For example, in the Tang Dynasty, there was even a custom that border commanders should serve as prime ministers after they had performed meritorious services. Under such circumstances, there would have been no problems with the weakening of the power of the five military governors and the rise of the Ministry of War in the Ming Dynasty.
After the Song Dynasty, in order to prevent the emergence of separatist vassal towns, there was a clear division between civil servants and generals. However, civilian officials view war more from a political perspective, while generals view war more from a military perspective. However, under the transformation of the civil servants of the Song Dynasty, the training of military generals simply emphasized military bravery and despised strategy.
It is precisely because of this situation that problems will arise due to the weakening of the power of the five military governors and the rise of the Ministry of War in the Ming Dynasty.
When civilian officials in the Ming Dynasty, like the civil servants in the Song Dynasty, viewed war from a political perspective, an embarrassing phenomenon often occurred when they led military generals into battle: when military generals led troops into battle quickly, they would be accused by the civilian officials of underestimating the enemy's aggressive advance and being brave and bloodthirsty; the military generals chose to wait. If you go to war at a favorable opportunity, you will be accused by civil officials of being afraid of the enemy and avoiding war, and of supporting the invaders to protect yourself.
In this way, the generals became the imperial war machine and completely lost their initiative in the war. And if the civilians who command the generals have good military qualities, then it's okay. Once the civilian commanders are like Yang Hao, what awaits the Ming army can only be a disastrous defeat like Saarhu's.
The worst thing is that in the original history before the time traveler Gao Pragmatic appeared, in order to prevent the rise of military generals' power, civilian officials also rejected all suggestions that would help improve the status of military generals - even if the starting point of these suggestions was actually to improve the combat effectiveness of the army. .
For example, during the Long and Wan periods, Qi Jiguang and Yu Dayou both proposed plans to reorganize the Ming army. As a result, most of the suggestions were rejected by civilian officials (a small number of measures that addressed the symptoms rather than the root cause were retained, such as Qi Jiguang's rotation training of soldiers from various towns in Jizhen). For many years), Ming Dynasty missed the last opportunity to improve the combat effectiveness of its army.
Of course, what is even more serious is that the weakening of the power of the Fifth Army Governor's Office and the rise of the Ministry of War have created a new problem: civilian officials despise military generals, and military generals defy civilian officials. Under this circumstance, it became inevitable for civil servants and military generals to be disloyal during the war. Coupled with the Ming Dynasty's terrible financial system, the result was that tragic defeats like the Songjin War continued to be staged in the Ming army in the late Ming Dynasty.
It is precisely due to the weakening of the power of the Five Military Governors and the rise of the Ministry of War that the strange situation of the country's military situation being determined by the military qualities of the main leading civilian officials emerged in the late Ming Dynasty. When civil servants with high military literacy such as Lu Xiangsheng, Hong Chengchou, and Sun Chuanting were there, the military situation in the late Ming Dynasty looked very good. However, when they were killed or captured one after another, the military situation in the late Ming Dynasty suddenly took a turn for the worse, and finally soon after Then perish.
The cause of the demise was of course not just the loss of civil servants who could fight the war. Gao Pragmatic always insisted that financial problems were the primary cause, just as it was recognized by later generations: war is the continuation of politics, and economics is the root of politics.
If a country's economy is in shambles, its politics will definitely be in shambles, so war will definitely be "unbearable." And if the economy is strong, even if the country has big problems in war decision-making and war command, the worst it will be is like leading the British to fight the Boer War, an international laughing stock. Although the scene is extremely ugly, in the end it can still win. Win.
This cannot be compared with the fact that "we, the Qing Dynasty," almost always lost every battle against the great powers. Why did the Qing Dynasty still lose when they clearly had an advantage in terms of economic aggregate?
The reason for this lack of comparability is that the “economy” mentioned above not only refers to the total amount, but also refers to the advanced degree of the economic structure, the transformation and utilization of economic capabilities, etc. Otherwise, let alone the late Tatar Qing Dynasty, the economic aggregate of the Ming Dynasty at the end of the Ming Dynasty was also in disdain for the slaves, right?
Without further ado, let’s get back to the topic. In short, although national force is the necessary foundation for the existence of any country, civilian government is inevitable for historical development. Otherwise, corruption will only occur, which will only lead to disasters both externally and internally. The ancients understood this truth a long time ago: no matter how big a country is, if it likes war, it will perish; no matter how peaceful the world is, if it forgets to fight, it will be in danger.
Therefore, there is no problem in nature that the power of the civil servant group is greater than that of the military generals. What is problematic is Li Rusong's forced demand to be on an equal footing with civilian officials. However, there is definitely something wrong with civilian officials not treating military generals as human beings. The legitimacy of suppression of power does not mean the legitimacy of suppression of personality.
The problem that Gao Wushi faces now is that he must not only ensure strong suppression of Li Rusong in terms of power, but also should not make Li Rusong feel that he has been insulted in terms of personality. This is a test of skill.
As for why this is important? Of course, it was because Gao Pragmatic wanted to use this incident to set a rule and a benchmark for the civil and military disputes in the Ming Dynasty.
People of later generations often say that "first-class companies set standards", so if you change the situation, Gao Wuchen now believes that "first-class ministers set the rules."
A memorial written by Gao Pangshi was sent out in the afternoon of that day and headed towards the capital. This memorial is called "On the Victory of the Battle of Lightning Lake and On the Ascension of Military to the Country", and later generations will call it "Wen on Wushu".
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PS: In the previous chapters, twenty is called twenty, thirty is called thirty, and forty is called eighty. I know this. I was writing Chapter 51 today when I suddenly froze, thinking to myself, what is fifty? Then I looked it up, and it seems that fifty is called "婜", but when I looked up the word "婜" alone, it didn't say that it had the meaning of fifty. After thinking about it... I didn't dare to use it indiscriminately. If any readers know about it, please leave a message and give some advice, thank you.
