The Prosperous Era of Longwan

"crunch"

The wheels of the carriage rolled on the ground, making a screeching sound. A rather gorgeous carriage passed through the city gate and entered the capital.

The carriage was followed by a group of mighty knights, showing the extraordinary status of the owner of the carriage.

Entering the streets of the capital, the ground was a little smoother, and perhaps the people on the carriage felt it. Then the curtains were gently opened, and an old face appeared in the carriage window.

The old man's face was not good, and he didn't know whether it was due to the fatigue caused by riding in the carriage for a long time or something else.

After all, although the carriage is a very luxurious means of transportation in this era, the journey time is too long and the experience is not so pleasant.

After the old man could clearly see the street outside the car, the car curtain was lowered again.

The old man on the carriage was none other than Yang Bo, the Minister of War at the time. He had just returned to the capital from Miyun. From his startling glance just now, anyone with an eye could still detect the deep worry hidden in his eyes.

Yes, it can be said that his trip to Miyun to meet with Yang Xuan, the governor of Jiliao, achieved nothing.

In his eyes, Yang Xuan believed too much in his so-called intelligence channels.

This kind of trust made him blindly believe in the so-called top-secret information sent back. Anda Khan planned to completely control the land outside the Great Wall and completely confront each other across the Great Wall in the Ming Dynasty.

Therefore, during the meeting between the two, Yang Xuan not only failed to listen to his advice, but instead planned to continue sending Jizhen troops and horses eastward. The forwards had even left the border and entered the castle in the Liaoxi Corridor to stand by.

Yang Xuan even requested the Ministry of War to send orders to border towns such as Xuanda and Yansui, so that after the war in Liaodong broke out, they could send elite cavalry north to sweep away the Mongolian tribes that could be seen along the way, so that Anda Khan could not concentrate all his troops. Participated in the Liaodong War.

Yang Bo knew very well that Yang Xuan wanted to complete his victory in one battle and completely eliminate the hand that An Dahan wanted to extend to the east.

According to his idea, as long as 10,000 to 20,000 Mongolian troops are killed, the Mongolians will not dare to look at the Liaodong region within decades.

At the same time, through this battle, Anda Khan's thoughts of looking south will be completely eliminated, allowing the border areas to maintain peace for a period of time.

Yang Bo understood Yang Xuan's idea, but he didn't think it was feasible.

It's a pity that Yang Xuan couldn't listen, and Yang Bo had no right to command Yang Xuan. Even when he moved out of the cabinet, it didn't help.

Returning to the capital with disappointment, the only one who can stop Yang Xuan from gambling may be the one who lives in Xiyuan.

However, Yang Bo was not sure what that person was thinking.

Yang Xuan was a minister directly picked up by Emperor Jiajing.

Yang Xuan was promoted to Jinshi in the 23rd year of Jiajing reign of Emperor Shizong of the Ming Dynasty. He was initially awarded the rank of official, then promoted to censor, and served as the deputy military envoy of Yizhou.

In the thirty-seventh year of Jiajing, Anda surrounded the right guard of Datong. Zhu Ji, the governor of Datong, was convicted and arrested. He followed the minister Jiangdong and the chief military officer Zhang Chengxun and were ordered to relieve the siege of Datong. Later, Emperor Jiajing was promoted to Yang and elected as the capital of Youqian. Censor, took over Zhu Ji's position.

Regarding Yang Xuan, Yang Bo could feel Emperor Jiajing's trust in him, otherwise he would not have given him the position of Governor of Ji Liao.

However, in Yang Bo's eyes, Yang Xuan is capable, but he just likes to be clever.

On the second day after Yang Bo returned to Beijing, he went to the cabinet to communicate with Xu Jie and Yuan Wei about Ji Liao.

"Weiyue, your Majesty mentioned this matter when he summoned me two days ago."

After Yang Bo revealed the results of his trip and revealed his deep worries, Xu Jie said to him.

Xu Jie's words immediately made Yang Bo energetic and wanted to know the details here in detail.

From this, we can also roughly know what the emperor's thoughts are.

"His Majesty is very conflicted. He wants to cut off An Dahan's arm and teach his opponent a lesson, but he is also worried about repeating the same mistakes as before."

Xu Jie looked at Yang Bo and knew what he was thinking. He didn't show off and directly told the answer he wanted to know.

Hearing this, Yang Bo's eyes darkened.

It seems that the emperor is also in a dilemma, but as long as he has this intention in his heart, it is difficult to prevent him from making a bet and taking a gamble.

"Haha, Weiyuan, don't worry about it."

Xu Jie knew what Yang Bo was thinking when he saw his expression, and comforted him with a smile.

"It's definitely not a good thing for Ji Town's troops to move eastward."

Yang Bo lamented.

"Since you don't want the Jizhen army to leave the border, and Yang Xuan is unwilling to listen to your warning, why not just ask his subordinates to withhold a batch of grain and fodder for Jizhen, so that he can't assign the army to move eastward."

Xu Jie expressed his thoughts.

Yang Xuan can indeed command the military and horse operations in Ji Town, and he can completely ignore the orders of the Ministry of War or even the cabinet. However, there is one thing that he has to be restrained by the court, and that is that Ji Town is a border town and he relies on the food and grass raised from his territory. It is simply unable to support military operations.

In fact, the imperial court also used this to contain the armies of various towns.

You must know that Jiubian soldiers and horses have been at war with the northern grassland peoples for a long time, and their soldiers are the strongest in the Ming army.

If someone with ulterior motives appears in the important town of Jiubian, with a large army in hand, it will also be a great threat to the court.

Fortunately, although these officials and generals have troops, they still lack the food and fodder support for long-term operations.

Later generations only know that it was difficult for the Ming Dynasty to ensure food for border soldiers, and their food and wages were often withheld. But who knew that this was also a means for the court to control the soldiers and horses in border towns.

Not to mention the shortage of food and grass, even if there is no shortage of food and grass, the imperial court will never transport too much food and grass to the border towns so that they can have enough food and clothing.

As for whether they are worried that the soldiers will rebel because of this, haha, in fact, if the officials of Jiubian cannot handle these matters well, and it really triggers a mutiny, it will only show that they are incompetent in controlling their subordinates, and they will naturally be thrown out by then. , as a lamb to quell people’s grievances.

What's more, since the establishment of the Ming Dynasty to the present, there have been few cases of soldiers arguing about pay, and even mutiniing because of this?

Xu Jie's suggestion was the best option at the moment to restrain Yang Xuan.

Yang Bo nodded subconsciously, agreeing with Xu Jie's suggestion from the bottom of his heart, while Yuan Wei on the other side also nodded in agreement with a smile.

In fact, the cabinet's handling of government affairs and military affairs has already been traced. As long as you read more relevant archives, you can know how to deal with problems.

This is why the cabinet ministers of the Ming Dynasty really did not need strong adaptability or local experience.

They only need to have the ability to communicate with the Sixth Department. After all, more rights are actually in the hands of the Sixth Department on specific matters.

"Brother Cunzhai has a fair opinion. I will arrange this matter when we return to the Yamen."

Yang Bo was not like a mother-in-law. Since he was convinced of this matter in his heart, he would not look forward or backward, and immediately planned to withhold the food and grass from Ji Town so that Yang Xuan could not send troops outside the customs according to his own ideas.

When Yang Bo was about to leave the cabinet, Xu Jie stopped him again and said: "The Ministry of War had better send a message to Fujian and let them deal with the Xinghua Japanese pirates as soon as possible. It has been delayed for a long time."

"I also know about this matter. It's just that the Japanese pirates in Fujian and Guangdong are active this time, and they are unable to mobilize a large army to support Xinghua Prefecture. Governor Zhao of Zhejiang is unwilling to mobilize elite troops to fight against Japanese pirates in Fujian, so it has been delayed until now."

Yang Bo replied somewhat depressedly.

The local officials below each have their own thoughts. Sometimes even if he, the minister, knows the details, it is difficult to directly order what to do. In fact, the unspoken rules of officialdom are like this, and he does not dare to tear this layer of window paper easily.

"Hurry up."

Xu Jie could only say this.

How could he not know what Yang Bo said.

Just knowing is one thing, how to do it is another.

If he had known about Zhejiang Zhao Bingran's decision a year ago, he would have immediately sent someone to deliver a message there, asking him to put the overall situation first.

However, time has been delayed so far, and sending a message to Zhejiang asking them to send elite troops south will no longer help.

So, what else can be done in the court?

Then we can only urge and issue an official document urging Fujian to start the war as soon as possible to eliminate the Japanese pirates entrenched near Xinghua Prefecture.

The bigger the official, the more party members need to be cultivated. For what reason?

Don't they know that if they do this, sooner or later something will happen due to the insatiable greed of some people, and they will eventually get burned?

The purpose of cultivating party members is so that your orders can be passed down to the subordinates and be faithfully executed without being blocked for various reasons.

Only those who have been raised by themselves will truly obey themselves, and only because of this can they enjoy the happiness of power.

However, do these so-called "owning people" really follow their own ideas wholeheartedly when encountering problems?

Of course not entirely, they also have their own selfish motives, that is, the order does not affect their interests.

This is also what he, his predecessor Yan Song, his predecessor’s predecessor, and countless other cabinet chiefs and assistants are doing, which is to cultivate party members, even if it may be labeled as a party for personal gain, they will not hesitate to do so. reason.

To suppress the Japanese, they just needed some manpower, and Xu Jie was confident that he could get Zhao Bingran to obey, because this order would not affect his interests.

While the two were talking, Xu Jie had already walked out of the house and stood in the yard with Yang Bo.

There was no one around, so Xu Jie asked in a low voice: "During this period, the Tatars have been harassing the border. Do you think there will be a war this year?"

Fujian is too far away for the capital to take care of it, and it is beyond the reach of the whip. Xu Jie is actually most concerned about the safety of Jiubian Town. He is also a person who has experienced the Gengxu Revolution.

Yang Bo was a little surprised by Xu Jie's behavior, but after hearing his question, he thought about it before replying: "Since last year, the number of Tatar invasions of Liaodong has indeed increased, but this is definitely not because Anda Khan has ambitions in Liaodong. evidence."

Until now, Yang Bo still doesn't think Liaodong has any value. At least there is no need to sacrifice the army and fight against Ming Dynasty in Liaodong. In his eyes, this is really unwise.

"Ada Khan will never take Liaodong?"

Xu Jie was not very satisfied with Yang Bo's answer and asked again.

This was forcing him to express his position, but Yang Bo didn't have time to be angry at this time, but thought for a moment before nodding.

He didn't think Anda Khan would make this decision. Liaodong was really of little value.

For the grassland peoples, what they want is actually more to go south, beyond the Great Wall and continue to expand their land southward. What they covet is the warm land in the pass, where they can graze their cattle and escape the cold in the north.

By occupying Liaodong, although the pastures can be expanded, living conditions will be difficult.

For the grassland people, they still cannot get much value from it, and it is still difficult for them to reproduce in large numbers.

Yes, no matter how big the land is, their population is only so large, so what’s the point.

Only by crossing the Great Wall and seizing the warm land in the south can they provide guarantee for the expansion of their ethnic group.

Not to mention that the Mongolians have adapted to the cold in the north, don't they know how to find a place with better conditions to live?

Think about Liaodong under the control of the Ming Dynasty. If the army had not blocked the return journey, how many people who immigrated to Liaodong would be willing to stay there? Even if they fled back to the customs and thought that they could only become refugees because of their household registration, they would still do this choose.

And once they have the opportunity to leave, they will find a way to leave even if they lose everything.

As the chief minister of the cabinet, Xu Jie certainly knew what was happening in Shandong.

It's just that the situation hasn't gotten out of hand yet, so he said he could suppress it for the time being.

"Okay, I know what to say in front of His Majesty."

Xu Jie nodded and watched Yang Bo leave.

The upper reaches of the Liao River, such as the Laoha River, the Uli Jimulun River, and the Xilamulun River, flow into the Liao River Plain. Due to the flat and low-lying terrain, the flow speed slows down, the river bed siltates, and the river overflows, forming a large area of ​​​​protection in this area. The swampland formed Liaoze.

In the early years of Zhengde, Li Chengxun visited Liaodong and "requested the construction of a border wall, stretching from Sancha River in Liaoyang to Kaiyuan for more than 500 miles."

After several constructions, the west side of the Liaohetao border wall started from Baituchangguan and went southward along the west bank of the Liaohe River, passing through Dongbianhao in Heishan County, Dadaizi and Liutaizi in Tai'an County, to the northwest of Niuzhuang Town in Haicheng County, across the Liaohe River, and then turned to the northeast, along the It stretches from the east bank of the Liao River to Kaiyuan and Changtu counties, and ends at Zhenbeibao.

Because this Great Wall wraps around a large V-shape to the south and is located along the east and west banks of the Liaohe River, it is called the "Liaohe Tao Great Wall".

Beginning with Li Chengxun, the Ming Dynasty's border wall construction in Liaodong intentionally bypassed Liaoze and placed this area outside the border wall. Naturally, they also hoped to reduce Liaoze's influence on the construction of the border wall.

However, this strategy was later regarded as a major mistake by countless people.

Liaoze is only formed during the summer flood season, and will gradually dry up and shrink in the spring, autumn and winter. However, the Ming army has hundreds of kilometers more defense lines in this area, which requires huge manpower and material resources to defend.

As a result, during the Spring and Autumn Period, the Mongolian Tatars would enter the Liaohetao area, looking for Ming army fortresses that could be attacked, and break through the border wall to plunder the Ming Dynasty-controlled area south of the border wall.

Because of the V-shaped border wall, the Ming army's troops in eastern Liaoning and western Liaoning could only maneuver along the border wall. Therefore, the Baitu Factory in the north of Guangning was closed to the Pingzu Fort in the west of Shenyang. The two places were hundreds of miles apart, but reinforcements could be mobilized from the east and west. At that time, it had to take a detour of hundreds of miles to get there.

In fact, it is this V-shaped side wall that divides the entire Liaodong region into Liaodong and Liaoxi. This section of the city wall is also called the Liaohetao Great Wall.

At this time, a long group of Tatar cavalry troops was taking advantage of the dry season in Liaoze to enter here, looking for defensive loopholes in the Ming army's side walls, waiting for opportunities.

"Taiji, not far ahead is the permanent fort, and beyond that is Huangniwa."

"Speed ​​up and go over there and see how thick the wall is there."