prosperous age

Chapter 965 1054 Palace discussions

Wei Guangde imagined the Ming Dynasty in his mind, or the territory of China in later generations, with the Dragon King's territories in the east, south, west and north all gathered together.

After a brief conversation between Zhang Juzheng and Lu Tiaoyang, they basically recognized Wei Guangde's plan, which was to mobilize the Ming army in the southwest to take military action against the Taungoo dynasty of Myanmar.

In fact, Wei Guangde had already made a lot of preparations before the incident broke out.

Zhang Juzheng and Lu Tiaoyang both knew this well.

If we really retreat in the face of battle, perhaps as Wei Guangde said, the territory of two thousand miles southwest will be lost.

No matter whether they are the chief minister or the assistant minister, none of them can bear this responsibility.

"Shan Loi, it's better to inform the palace about this matter as soon as possible."

Although he had already been there today, when it came to military matters, Zhang Juzheng did not dare to just let the three members of his cabinet discuss it. He had to at least talk to the palace.

"Well, okay, let's go there together."

Wei Guangde nodded, but when the four of them walked out of the duty room, Wei Guangde handed over a secretary and said to him: "Go to the Governor's Mansion of the Right Army and call Li Chengliang to wait in the palace."

No matter what the palace decides, it will probably not get around the cabinet.

Given the current situation, if the Queen Mothers of the two palaces want to preserve the country passed down by their ancestors, they must also prepare to launch military operations in the southwest in accordance with the cabinet's deliberations.

On the way to Ciqing Palace, Wei Guangde whispered to Zhang Juzheng: "Brother, the Ministry of Household Affairs also needs to inform you that the money and grain of the four southwest provinces are sealed on site, and Huguang and Guangxi are also stored there first.

If you want to go to war, you will need money and food support, and transportation back and forth will be troublesome. "

"The Ministry of Industry has started minting coins. Do you want the Ministry of Accounts to allocate a batch of silver coins?"

Zhang Juzheng knew that Wei Guangde was considering the military pay required for mobilizing the army. It was a common practice in the Ming Dynasty to allocate a sum of departure silver to the mobilizing guards before sending out soldiers.

If the money is not available, soldiers may not be willing to leave.

As for the so-called military orders, that's really all.

In the past few years, the court's energy was either in the north or the southeast, and it paid little attention to the southwest.

Although chieftains often rebelled in the southwest, they usually mobilized troops from the four provinces. Some rewards were also in arrears, and they were all paid after the grain and tax revenue of the four provinces were raised.

The most that can be done is to transfer money and food from Huguang to supplement the shortage.

Zhang Juzheng nodded. This time the war was of great importance, and money and food must not cause any trouble.

If the soldiers mutinied before the war began because they did not have enough to eat or pay, it would be a huge loss of face.

He proposed to allocate a batch of newly minted silver coins from the Ministry of Industry. First, he was out of kindness to reserve a batch of money and grain in the southwest in advance. Second, he wanted to introduce silver coins to the southwest. What better way to promote it than to let a group of soldiers spend it? .

The imperial decree on new silver coins was issued and spread to the southwest. If the silver coins minted by the imperial court actually appeared among the people, it would take a year and a half, or even several years, if normal procedures were followed.

There is also a process for ordinary people to accept it from merchants, but if soldiers use it to use money, no one in the merchants should dare to refuse it.

It can be said that since the imperial court has decided to do it, Zhang Juzheng also has to work hard to mint silver coins for the officials and push them to all provinces across the country as soon as possible.

"Okay, Li Chengliang goes to the southwest and asks him to bring one hundred thousand taels of silver there."

Although Baoyuan Bureau can start minting silver coins starting today, it will definitely take time.

Especially at the beginning of casting, you will inevitably encounter problems of one kind or another, which will affect the casting speed.

It will take some time for everything to be straightened out before the casting speed can be increased.

But in the face of such a military and national event, there is actually little difference between doing it sooner or later.

But it would take half a month for the news to travel from the capital to Yunnan, even if it was delivered by Jinyiwei express.

Then Yunnan had to send three announcements and six consolations. At least three months had passed. By the time there was a reply, almost half a year had passed.

Therefore, Li Chengliang had time to wait for the Ministry of Industry to mint hundreds of thousands of taels of silver coins before setting off.

Soon the four of them arrived outside the gate of Ciqing Palace and expressed to the chamberlain outside that they wanted to go in to see the Queen Mother.

"Adults, please wait a moment. The Zajia family will go in immediately to report."

The cabinet ministers and the commanders of the Jin Yiwei came hand in hand. The chamberlain did not dare to neglect, and hurriedly ran into Ciqing Palace to report.

"How do you Jin Yiwei deliver the message? As far as I know, whether it is an express delivery shop or a stagecoach, it takes at least twenty days to send the message between Yunnan and the capital."

While waiting, Wei Guangde curiously asked about Liu Shou's visit.

"Mr. Wei Ge, for local memorials to the imperial court, even if it is an urgent official document, the general requirement is to travel no more than four hundred miles per day. Unless there is a war, the letter will be required to be delivered by express delivery at six hundred miles.

The delivery of my Jin Yiwei's packages is all carried out in accordance with war requirements, so it is much faster than ordinary official documents. "

Liu Shouyou had no choice but to explain.

The civil servants did not know much about the operation of Jin Yiwei. Zhang Juzheng, Wei Guangde and others naturally did not expect that Jin Yiwei's daily official documents were delivered at a speed of 600 miles, and they thought they had mastered some fast delivery method.

Now that he knew that the difference was caused by different transmission levels, Wei Guangde naturally lost interest in continuing to ask.

Wei Guangde just whispered to Zhang Juzheng: "If there is a war in Yunnan, the official battle report will have to be delivered to the capital at an urgent speed of 600 miles, so that Beijing can make some response."

"In this case, the inn will be too stressed."

Zhang Juzheng frowned and said.

"should."

Before Wei Guangde finished speaking, he saw that the chamberlain who had gone in to report had returned, bowed in front of them and said: "My lords, the Queen Mother invites you to come in."

Afterwards, he led Zhang Juzheng and others into Ciqing Palace.

Although it was a bit strange for the cabinet ministers and the commander of the Imperial Guard to come together to ask for an audience, Empress Dowager Chen immediately summoned Empress Dowager Li, who was still taking the exam for the junior emperor, and the three of them came to the main hall to receive them.

Several people came in to deliver the Jin Yiwei information brought by Liu Shouyou, and Wei Guangde briefly introduced the situation in the southwest.

Empress Dowager Chen began to look through the Jinyiwei documents and saw that the Toungoo Dynasty imitated the Ming Dynasty's gold-lettered red card and letter system, and also gave "treasure belts and Burmese Duos" to other Xuanwei chieftains in the Yunnan border areas as a superior. The eyebrows were raised.

In fact, when she first heard Wei Guangde's introduction, she was quite disapproving.

After all, it was a major event involving war and death, and Queen Mother Chen instinctively wanted to avoid it.

It's nothing more than pretending to be deaf and mute and ignoring it.

However, Queen Mother Chen couldn't accept it when she saw that King Mang Yinglong of the Toungoo Dynasty actually gave tokens to other chieftains and asked them to contact him exactly as they would treat the Ming Emperor.

The imperial court recognized the status of the border chieftains and their right to rule the land, but it could not accept them becoming kings and hegemons and using the same rituals as the emperor.

"Since Mang Yinglong is unreasonable, what does the cabinet think?"

After reading the document, Queen Mother Chen handed it to Queen Mother Li next to her, and then asked the cabinet for its opinion. In fact, when Wei Guangde introduced the situation, Queen Mother Li on the side was already very anxious. After all, the throne belongs to her son. If Southwest really loses its power, who does it belong to?

So after taking the document and hearing Queen Mother Chen's question, she didn't have time to look at the document in her hand. Her eyes were already fixed on Wei Guangde, waiting for the answer.

"Actually, before seeing the Jinyiwei information, I and others had already made guesses about the situation of the Xuanwei Department in the border areas based on the documents from the southwest obtained from the Ministry of War."

Wei Guangde didn't hide anything. He had actually revealed some of it to them at the beginning, so he directly told them their plans.

"The purpose of leaving Li Chengliang in the capital was to prepare for the use of troops in the southwest. The DPRK cannot be without generals who are accustomed to fighting.

Therefore, I believe that since the Toungoo dynasty is resorting to militarism and wantonly bullying its neighbors, the imperial court cannot sit idly by and ignore it.

First, the imperial court sent a message to the governor of Yunnan, asking him to find out the true situation in Myanmar and other places as soon as possible and let everyone report it.

If Mang Yinglong really did such a terrible thing, he should be bound to the governor of Yunnan and punished, and the imperial court could restore the local practice of ruling the local area with three declarations and six comforts established at the beginning of the country.

If Mang Yinglong resists the imperial order, Li Chengliang, the left governor of the right army governor's mansion, should lead the southwestern army to put down Mang Yinglong's rebellion. "

Wei Guangde directly characterized the expansion of the Toungoo dynasty as a rebellion, and wantonly attacked the surrounding Xuanwei Division, which was conferred by the Ming Dynasty. This was undoubtedly a rebellion.

"Let Li Chengliang go to the southwest."

Empress Dowager Chen just repeated in a low voice, and then looked at Zhang Juzheng, "Does the Chief Assistant think the same way?"

"When I return to the Queen Mother, I have the same opinion as Mr. Wei Ge.

Now that Mang Yinglong has been attacking for many years, he has occupied many surrounding lands, and his strength has become very strong. The imperial court summoned him to Kunming, fearing that he would not be captured without restraint.

I think that for the sake of the peace of the people in the southwest, the imperial court should work hard and try not to use weapons.

However, as for Mang Yinglong, he does not seem to be a person who understands etiquette, otherwise he would not have continuously sent troops to Mubang, Cheche and other Weisi, and even sent troops to Siam twice until he broke through the opponent's royal city and captured the Siamese king.

As far as we know now, the dignity of the imperial court has disappeared in the southwest. Now that Mang Yinglong is still supervising troops to attack Xuanwei Division in Laos, the imperial court should decisively stop it and re-establish the imperial authority.

Let all the ethnic groups in the southwest call off their troops and make a truce to bathe in the grace of our emperor. "

Zhang Juzheng's attitude, in the past, he might have ignored things outside Yunnan. However, under the influence of Wei Guangde, especially after losing two thousand miles of land, he, the chief minister of the cabinet, could not sit idly by. of.

Now that Wei Guangde has made preparations, just follow Wei Guangde's plan, and the left and right will not affect him.

Anyway, it was Wei Guangde who took the lead in this matter, and it was he who impeached the court officials for making mistakes.

When Queen Mother Chen turned her eyes to Lu Tiaoyang, Lu Tiaoyang also nodded in approval.

“Now that the cabinet has decided to intervene in the situation in the southwest, it should be fully prepared.

Li Chengliang asked him to go to the southwest capital as soon as possible to count the troops and train them to be ready. "

In fact, Queen Mother Chen knew that this battle was inevitable after seeing the Toungoo Dynasty attacking cities and plundering territory everywhere.

Now that the cabinet has a plan, let the cabinet do it.

For more than a hundred years, the government has been run by the cabinet. Whether it is domestic affairs or foreign wars, she doesn't have to worry about it.

But turning around, Queen Mother Chen began to scold Liu Shouyou.

"The palace has handed over the command of the Jin Yiwei to you. What are the responsibilities of the Jin Yiwei? You actually had no idea about the situation on the border before."

In fact, before this, the harem had absolutely no way to interfere with the powers of the cabinet and the royal guards, but now the situation was different. The emperor was young, so they were given the opportunity to intervene.

But with this intervention, the problem of Jinyiwei was also exposed. It may be able to monitor the entire capital well, and it may have considerable monitoring capabilities for the thirteen provinces of the Ming Dynasty, but it obviously lacks monitoring of the border areas.

In response to Empress Dowager Chen's reprimand, Liu Shouyou could only bow his head and accept it.

Obviously, Empress Dowager Chen was somewhat influenced by the people and believed that Jinyiwei was an all-powerful agency responsible for spying on military and political intelligence across the country and helping the emperor understand the work of local military and political officials.

In fact, although Jin Yiwei was famous, his authority was not what she thought.

In any case, the Jin Yiwei Special Division was actually responsible for guarding the emperor, and was responsible for holding records, guard of honors, and summoning officials before driving.

Although the Jin Yiwei secretly monitors hundreds of officials, most of them are officials from the capital.

Local surveillance is also based on state capitals where health stations are set up, and it is impossible to spread an intelligence network across the country.

Because Jinyiwei was directly under the emperor, they were sent to perform espionage missions. However, the goal was mostly to send personnel to the Mongolian grasslands in the north. Most emperors in the Ming Dynasty regarded the northern forces as a serious concern.

Although in the early Ming Dynasty, Jinyiwei participated in the wars to pacify Yunnan, Annan and other places, they mostly acted secretly under the emperor's orders.

During the war to aid Korea in the mid-Wanli period, Jinyiwei successfully completed the espionage mission against the Japanese country, which was specifically ordered by Emperor Wanli.

It can be said that all external actions of the Jinyiwei intelligence agency are not routine, but are carried out according to orders.

If Wei Guangde hadn't approached him before and reported it to the palace, Liu Shouyou would not have dared to agree to Wei Guangde's request and send people abroad to find out the news.

After leaving Ciqing Palace and returning to the cabinet, after entering the gate, the clerk reported that Li Chengliang, the left governor of the Right Army Governor's Mansion, had arrived and was waiting.

"Shandai, let me go see Li Chengliang. I'll go back and draft the documents to be sent to Yunnan."

Zhang Juzheng said.

Today there was coinage and the situation in the southwest, which had already delayed a lot of time. There were still a lot of memorials waiting for them to deal with in the check-in room. There was really no need to go to see Li Chengliang together.

In fact, this is a typical example of civilian officials looking down on military generals.

Speaking of which, Li Chengliang was the Left Commander of the Right Army Governor's Mansion, and he was a first-rank military official in the imperial court. Whether it was Zhang Juzheng or Wei Guangde, their ranks were actually the same as Li Chengliang's.

But the cabinet can still boss the governor around. This is an obvious distinction between civil and military affairs.

If it is according to the rules, in fact, when Li Chengliang arrives here, the three cabinet ministers should go to see him, at least to miss him.

It's just that Zhang Juzheng and Lu Tiaoyang didn't plan to see him. After all, it didn't matter.

Wei Guangde nodded and did not refuse. He was the original cause of the incident.

"Go and ask Governor Li to come to my room to talk."

Wei Guangde just gave instructions to the bookkeeper and went straight back to his own room.

Not long after, Lu Bu came in and announced, "Sir, Governor Li Chengliang has arrived."

"Invite him in."

Wei Guangde was sitting behind the desk, took the time to read a memorial, and was writing to prepare a draft.

Li Chengliang entered the room, and Wei Guangde said without raising his head, "Sit down first, Lu Bu, and serve tea."

(End of this chapter)