The Prosperous Era of Longwan

Wei Guangde had his own goal, so from that moment on, he became extremely enthusiastic about Professor Yu Wang.

Because of the palace's wishes, Wei Guangde searched for information in the name of searching for documents related to northern Mongolia. In fact, he also collected and sorted out information related to the shipping department and the mutual market.

Wei Guangde has already seen many problems based on what he has collected so far. At the beginning of the founding of the Ming Dynasty, he actually wanted to be closed and self-sufficient. This may have been influenced by Zhu Yuanzhang's background.

He may think that wealth should be accumulated bit by bit and kept at home, but he does not know that wealth can be increased through transactions.

Therefore, even though limited mutual trading began during the Zhu Yuanzhang period, it was more of a policy adopted as a last resort.

Just like the tea-horse trade carried out in border areas, the fundamental purpose was to solve the problem of the Ming army's shortage of war horses. It was carried out in an official-run mode, which not only controlled the total transaction volume but also increased the court's income.

Although the idea is good, after a hundred years of development, it has already become corrupt.

From the information he found, Wei Guangde discovered that during the Hongwu period, the price of a high-quality horse in the tea-horse trade was 120 jins of tea, but now it is 80 jins. It seems that tea is more valuable, while horse prices are falling. .

But the actual situation is that the price of tea has increased somewhat over the past century, but the rate of increase is far less high than the increase in the price of fine horses.

It seems that the rise in tea prices and the fall in horse prices in the tea-horse trade is beneficial to the court, but the actual result is that the Ming army is now in dire need of horses.

Are fewer horses actually being traded because of changes in exchange value?

Not necessarily, it's just that a large number of horses were not traded to the court. It seemed that the court was benefiting, but in fact it was at the expense of the weakened military strength. Those horses had flowed into the private market.

Wei Guangde planned to talk about these things to King Yu later, but now he still wanted to finish talking about the relationship between the Ming Dynasty and the northern grassland peoples.

However, what he didn't know was that Yin Shizhen and Zhang Juzheng outside the window also started whispering.

"Is what Shandai is talking about appropriate?"

Zhang Juzheng was a little confused. He didn't know how Gao Gong and Chen Yiqin taught King Yu in the past.

Although Yin Shizhen also felt that there was something wrong, some of the things Wei Guangde said were actually reasonable when he thought about it, but they were slightly different from some of the current views of the court.

However, Wei Guangde did not impose his will on King Yu. After all, King Yu was an adult and had his own thoughts. Therefore, when Wei Guangde analyzed, he combined the current outside world's opinions and his own opinions based on the data. Let King Yu listen to it and let King Yu make his own judgment. The most important thing is to encourage King Yu to have his own thoughts.

Yin Shizhen looked in through the window. Prince Yu was older than Wei Guangde, and the situation in the room really felt a little out of place.

"It's just putting forward some ideas, not deviant."

Yin Shizhen whispered to Zhang Juzheng, "Actually, His Highness is an adult. He has his own thoughts. Su Qing often does this when he teaches His Highness."

A very important reason why Gao Gong can be respected by King Yu is that Gao Gong will not impose his ideas on King Yu. Instead, when explaining, he will explain from many aspects, as well as those that are recognized by the outside world. , those were criticized. In the end, what King Yu chooses to believe depends on King Yu’s own thoughts.

When King Yu and King Jing left the palace, they were actually adults and had completed basic education in the palace, but their thoughts were not mature enough.

Gao Gong's education to King Yu can be regarded as teaching students in accordance with their aptitude, and the result seems to be very good, which suits King Yu's temper.

At this moment, a young chamberlain appeared at the door of the courtyard. He came in with a note in his hand. When he saw Yin Shizhen at the window, he walked over quickly, taking three steps at a time.

Yin Shizhen tugged on Zhang Juzheng's sleeves, and the two of them left the window sill and walked over.

The young chamberlain handed over the note in his hand. Perhaps he also knew that his prince was in class, so he lowered his voice and said, "The news sent back by Master Gao."

Although Prince Yu's status seems to have been clarified, Prince Yu's palace still does not relax its vigilance. It keeps an eye on the troubles in the court every day. Whenever any important event occurs, the palace will know it immediately.

In the past, such news had to be bribed with scribes in various yamen to inquire about it. Now that Gao Gong has become an official in the court, he is more informed and naturally has the responsibility of informing people.

He took the note and nodded to him. After the waiter left, Yin Shizhen lowered his head and glanced at the note in his hand, then frowned.

Zhang Juzheng remained silent and did not come close to Yin Shizhen when he read the note.

Yin Shizhen took Zhang Juzheng into the room next to him, then handed the note in his hand to Zhang Juzheng and said, "You should also take a look. The Fujian side suffered a defeat and the encirclement and suppression campaign failed."

"So fast?"

Zhang Juzheng was a little surprised. It had only been so long since the imperial court made the decision to exterminate the rebels that Fujian had launched its first encirclement and suppression operation. This was not in line with his impression of the efficiency of local government.

Yin Shizhen understood the meaning of his words, and shook his head with a wry smile, "The imperial court asked Zhang Lian for news about a group of rebels. It is impossible for the Fujian government not to guess that the capital already knew about it, and it should have started to mobilize troops and generals to prepare for the encirclement and suppression at that time. .

Moreover, the previous memorial actually mentioned that when Zhang Lian and others were bandits, the local government actually mobilized a large army to encircle and suppress them, but they could not completely eliminate them.

In September and October, we were worried that Japanese pirates would arrive with the wind, so we dispatched the bandit-suppressing army back to coastal counties to defend against Japanese pirates. "

"Come to think of it, it was that time when the rebels were almost wiped out that they realized that sooner or later they would be wiped out by the imperial army if they were kings of the country. It would be better to join forces to increase their strength and make them less likely to be wiped out."

Zhang Juzheng had already read the note in his hand, sighed and said, "What a pity."

"The next year, March and April will be the time when the Japanese pirates come east again. There are only two months left in the middle. I'm afraid they won't be able to encircle and suppress them. After all, they already have a hundred thousand people. Without deploying the army, I'm afraid it will be difficult to complete the attack in one go. Destroy."

Yin Shizhen was already sitting in his seat and said to Zhang Juzheng, "Actually, the method suggested by Shandai at that time might have been better.

Mobilize officers and soldiers to station in the surrounding prefectures and counties to block the expansion of the anti-thief forces. As long as the people are trapped in the encirclement, they only need to wait for the surrounding armies to mobilize and annihilate them in one go. "

"If you cannot eliminate the rebels at once, it will indeed damage the majesty of the court, and it will also boost the morale of the rebels, and the morale of the surrounding officers and soldiers will also be damaged. This is not right."

Zhang Juzheng nodded in approval, "If this fails, will the court transfer Shandai away?"

"That's not true. There are many elite soldiers and generals in the south, including Wei Guangde."

Yin Shizhen shook his head and smiled, "Even Tan Lun from Zhejiang should be able to do it. I heard that he has trained an army in the past two years and has made outstanding achievements in fighting Japanese pirates. I think the imperial court will choose to choose generals nearby. I just hope that he will not do it again." Following the old path, troops were sent out in a hurry to encircle and suppress them, but in the end they came back defeated."

It had been more than half a month since Wei Guangde and Zhang Juzheng were ordered to enter Prince Yu's Mansion, and now it was December of the 39th year of Jiajing, when the government offices were about to be sealed, news came from Fujian, and soon The news soon spread to all the yamen in the capital.

Almost all officials looked shocked when they heard the news.

They were surprised at the reaction speed of the Fujian government, which mobilized troops and horses so quickly to encircle and suppress the rebels. On the other hand, they found it difficult to accept that the government troops were defeated by the rebels so quickly.

Fujian is not a peaceful place. The officers and soldiers there have participated in chasing down Japanese pirates many times, and they must have actual combat experience. However, just such an army was defeated by the rebels in just a few days.

In the past, most of the officials in the capital had a dismissive attitude towards Zhang Lian and his group of rebels. In their view, they were just gathering a mob of 100,000 people. They could take advantage of the opportunity of the imperial court to exterminate the Japanese pirates to occupy the mountain and become the king. Once the officers and soldiers If you get serious, it can be destroyed overnight.

But now it seems that this is not the case at all.

At this time, many people think of Fujian, which seems to be similar to the southwest. It is a mountainous land. It seems that it is really difficult to enter the mountains to encircle and suppress the rebels.

Thinking about the southwest region, there are actually many large and small rebels who have not been eliminated in many places, but they all claim to be kings, and none of them dare to proclaim themselves emperor like Zhang Lian and scratch the beard of the government.

Moreover, because Zhang Lian is now raising the banner of rebellion, the imperial court must be paying special attention to it. Therefore, it does not dare to conceal the news if it can be concealed, and only report it if it cannot be concealed, as it did in the past. Instead, it will report the news of the defeat as soon as possible. Beijing.

Who knows if Jin Yiwei has been staring at this place?

While Yin Shizhen and Zhang Juzheng in the room were still chatting about Fujian affairs, they heard the voices of Wei Guangde and Yu Wang chatting and laughing outside. It seemed that the class was over.

The two stood up and walked out, and sure enough they saw King Yu walking out of the study door, followed by Wei Guangde and Li Fang.

"Your Highness."

Yin Shizhen and Zhang Juzheng hurriedly stepped forward to salute.

"Both gentlemen are equal."

King Yu hurriedly stretched out his hand to support him and said.

"This is the news coming from outside today. Please take a look at it, Your Highness."

Yin Shizhen stood up, took out the note from his arms and handed it to King Yu.

"There won't be anything big going on in the court today. It's almost the Chinese New Year."

King Yu smiled easily at this moment. Before Li Fang could pass over, he reached out and took the note handed over by Yin Shizhen. He lowered his head and glanced at it, and his brows instantly furrowed.

Although Wei Guangde beside King Yu was very curious as to whether something happened in the court today, he saw that neither Yin Shizhen nor Zhang Juzheng looked relaxed, but he was just curious, and he would know it soon.

Li Fang on the other side only took two steps, and when King Yu reached out to take the note, he had already retreated to King Yu.

"How could it be so fast? We were defeated in just three days."

King Yu had already read the note in his hand and looked up at Yin Shizhen in disbelief.

Yin Shizhen smiled bitterly, "How can you not be defeated if you are ambushed?"

Zhang Juzheng next to him had a serious face from beginning to end. When King Yu didn't ask him, he would stand there quietly without saying a word.

Lost? Zhongfu?

Wei Guangde naturally guessed what happened. No wonder Yin Shizhen and Zhang Juzheng both appeared with faces like that. It was indeed bad news.

Not surprisingly, King Yu is the future emperor. If anything bad happens to the court now, it will actually be bad for King Yu.

On this point, a consensus has long been formed among King Yu's party. They have already had the awareness to rectify the political agenda and lay a solid foundation for King Yu's ascension to the throne. They are no longer just for their own promotion and interests as in the past.

In the end, the country belongs to King Yu. If he is really beaten to pieces by that group of rebels, King Yu will be the one who suffers in the end, and they don't have to step in to deal with it.

However, Wei Guangde did not agree with Yin Shizhen's words.

Who said that if you fall into an ambush, you will definitely fail?

That's just what the literati think subconsciously, and it seems to be said in the books. It seems that if you are ambushed, you will definitely lose the battle. Who made the rules?

If the officers and soldiers are powerful, even if they are ambushed by a mob, the victory or defeat is uncertain. This can only mean that the army is either too arrogant or has a command error.

Wei Guangde had carefully paid attention to the information from Fujian and concluded that the rebels were just a mob. How powerful could an army composed of Fujian residents, boat people, miners, and refugees be?

"Let's talk in the house."

After hearing Yin Shizhen's words, King Yu nodded slightly, and then led everyone back to the study. However, the study at this time was no longer his classroom, but a place where they discussed matters.

King Yu handed the note to Wei Guangde and asked him to read it too.

Although the two of them had talked before, Wei Guangde had roughly guessed something, but he still looked down.

Sure enough, tens of thousands of Ming troops gathered in Zhangzhou Prefecture and set out into the mountains to suppress the bandits. On the third day, they were ambushed and most of them retreated.

Wei Guangde understood that the casualties were not heavy. It is estimated that the Ming army had just won the victory in repelling the Japanese pirates. At that time, it was a bit full of self-confidence. Maybe it was still counting on the end of the battle before the year, so it underestimated the enemy and rushed forward. In the end, it was ambushed. It collapsed instantly.

After everyone entered the room and sat down, King Yu asked Yin Shizhen, "What do you think should be done after discussion?"

He was naturally asking Yin Shizhen and Zhang Juzheng. They knew the news first and would naturally discuss it in advance. Now King Yu wanted to know the outcome of their discussion.

This is actually King Yu's test for these officials. Those who are capable will naturally be of great use in the future, and those who are not will naturally depend on the situation.

Yin Shizhen and Zhang Juzheng looked at each other and then said: "We think it is best to use the method mentioned by Shandai at the beginning. First, deploy officers and soldiers to guard the surrounding prefectures and counties against the rebels, and then mobilize a large army to encircle and suppress them in June next year."

At the beginning, Wei Guangde thought that there was no need to be so eager to encircle and suppress Zhang Lian and others. He was worried that it would be counterproductive, so it was better to make more preparations, first encircle and explore the enemy's situation, and then repel the Japanese pirates next year before proceeding to suppress them.

However, Wei Guangde also said that by doing this, the government is afraid that someone will impeach him, which will put a lot of pressure on the local government.

"Shandai, what do you think we should do now?"

King Yu nodded, but he seemed dissatisfied with their answers because there was nothing new.

"The officers and soldiers have up to three months to carry out the campaign, and then they have to return to their respective defense areas to guard against Japanese pirates. I'm afraid there will be some trouble in Fujian."

Wei Guangde shook his head and poured cold water on everyone.