I, the Ming Dynasty, can still save me

Chapter 206 The Southwest War Begins

The news that the emperor's wedding date was set spread quickly.

As a major event that has not happened in many years, everyone in the Forbidden City has been preparing for this matter for a long time. Not only does the inner government have to handle it themselves, but they also have to discuss etiquette matters with the Ministry of Rites, Honglu Temple, etc. It is both busy and lively.

As the protagonist, Zhu Youxiao rarely has any leisure time. He only needs to participate when the time comes, and he doesn't have to manage these affairs now.

So he went back to his old life, reading question books and preparing for grades, which was boring but regular.

Many things did not require him to make decisions. After all, those who entered the cabinet were all top talents of the Ming Dynasty. His votes for daily affairs were often reasonable and compliant. Zhu Youxiao could not find anything wrong, so he Just give it a thumbs up.

This is the normal operation of government affairs. He does not have Zhu Yuanzhang's energy and has to intervene in everything. Except for some major matters, it is still necessary to delegate power to ordinary things. Otherwise, he will go against the cabinet and decide everything by himself. Then What's the point of having a cabinet?

On the tenth day of February, Zhu Youxiao was reviewing memorials as usual, but He Ning walked in to report.

"Your Majesty, the chief assistant of the cabinet Liu Yishen and Shen Guan want to see you."

"Let them in."

If the two of them came together, it might not be a big deal, Zhu Youxiao couldn't help but think, so he put down his pen and called the two of them in.

"Your Majesty Saint Ann."

After Liu Yishen and others came in, Zhu Youxiao saw Liu Yishen and others with solemn expressions and holding a question book in their hands. After a brief salute, Zhu Youxiao greeted them and made tea.

"You two come together, I'm afraid there is nothing important to discuss."

Since Ye Xianggao and others left Zui at home, Liu Yishen has completely stabilized the power of the chief minister of the cabinet. He originally felt that party struggle was not good because he had always been able to make up for the contradiction between Donglin and the Zhejiang Party and others, allowing everyone to The focus is on practical matters.

Therefore, now that Ye Xianggao and others are no longer in the cabinet, his work is much easier. He gets along very harmoniously with Shen Guan, who has already recognized the reality. There is no conflict, and the efficiency of the cabinet has been improved.

Seeing the emperor's question, the two looked at each other. Liu Yisui's face was solemn, he stood up and bowed and handed over the question book.

"Your Majesty, Zhu Xieyuan, the governor of Sichuan and Guizhou, reported that the current contact between Yongning guard She Chongming and Guizhou Anbangyan is becoming increasingly frequent, and since the beginning of the new year, She Chongming has repeatedly written to ask for the deployment of [-] horses and infantry to aid the Liao Dynasty. The signs of rebellion are becoming increasingly obvious."

"Since Zhu Xieyuan received the report from the court last year, he has made secret preparations, relying on internal funds to allocate 40 taels of silver. Currently, he has established a standard battalion of more than 1 people and selected [-] elite soldiers from the Sichuan Army. Yansui Town, Ningxia Town, and Guyuan Town are also After receiving the imperial edict, they set off as soon as the Chinese New Year. A total of nine thousand elite troops have now arrived in Chengdu.

At the same time, he also secretly summoned soldiers from Shizhu, Luo Gang, Long'an, Song, and Mao to come in for reinforcements. Among them, Shizhu's Xuanwei envoy Qin Liangyu seconded the proposal to the court. He also secretly sent Qin Minping, his nephew Yiming, and others to lead 4000 soldiers to Chengdu first. She led Six thousand elite soldiers followed, and together with other chieftain soldiers, the total number was about 5000. "

"Now Zhu Xieyuan is reporting to the court, saying that there are currently many soldiers and horses mobilized, and he is afraid that She Chongming will notice it. Moreover, the enemy is strong and we are weak. If She Chongming strikes first, it will be more difficult to solve the chaos in Sichuan and Guizhou. Therefore, he wants to strike first and take advantage of it. Prepare and lead the army to attack Yongning. If he can defeat She Chongming in one battle, then Anbangyan will naturally not dare to act rashly. Even if he cannot win this battle, it can greatly dampen She Chongming's momentum, greatly increase the prestige of the court, and deter other chieftains not to act rashly. .”

Looking at Zhu Xieyuan's question book, Zhu Youxiao nodded. This idea is indeed a good one.

But he couldn't help but wonder, Zhu Xieyuan was the governor of Sichuan and Guizhou. Why was he dealing with She Chongming now? What should An Bangyan do? If he couldn't defeat the two together, what should he do? So he put his Doubts were expressed.

Liu Yishen could also understand the emperor's thoughts, but he knew that the imperial court also had its difficulties.

"Your Majesty, originally the imperial court's financial resources were depleted, and the war in the southwest has been going on for a long time. The guards in Yunnan, Guizhou, Huguang and other places have become lax, and they are gradually unable to fight. They are more than capable of defending. If there is an attack, the only ones who can rely on are chieftain soldiers, especially in Yunnan. in this way.

Therefore, Zhu Xieyuan believes that it is better to cut off one of his ten fingers than to injure him. Instead of dividing his troops to encircle him, it is better to unite his troops and attack one place. Luxury first and then safety, first difficulty and then ease. Otherwise, if he rushes to encircle and suppress the She'an family, as long as there is a disadvantage, I was afraid that it would trigger a rebellion among the Sichuan-Guizhou chieftains.

Besides, the governor of Guizhou, Li Sheng, had always been very wary of An Bangyan. He often wrote letters saying that the An family was rebellious. He had also secretly prepared after receiving reports from the court. Although the attack was insufficient, he could resist An Bangyan's attack. He only had to wait for Zhu Xieyuan to wipe out She Chongming. , we can merge together to attack An Bangyan. "

"The cabinet thinks this suggestion is very good. It takes advantage of its unpreparedness to severely defeat its army. As long as it hurts a large part of its support, the rest is not a concern. Otherwise, it will fail in the rash attack and the southwest war will collapse, with disastrous consequences."

Liu Yishen still agreed with Zhu Xieyuan's countermeasures. After all, this was the best strategy he had thought up in a hurry.After Zhu Youxiao heard Liu Yishen's explanation, he began to think slowly.

He had no doubts about Zhu Xieyuan's ability. You must know that since She Chongming occupied Chongqing, Zhu Xieyuan only spent more than two years to wipe out him. This shows that Zhu Xieyuan's command ability is compared with the current combat effectiveness of the army. He also said it was very strong.

But the problem with the She'an Rebellion was not with She Chongming in Sichuan, but with An Bangyan in Guizhou.

Historically, after She Chongming was defeated, he fled to Guizhou to contribute to An Bangyan. Since the provinces divided their forces to suppress An Bangyan, Zhu Xieyuan, then governor of Sichuan, could not enter Guizhou. Guizhou underestimated the enemy's rash advance in the process of annihilating An Bangyan, and was delayed. Pay money, low morale, victory first and then defeat, repeated several times, which led to the loss of life in Guizhou. Yunnan's troops aiding Guizhou were ambushed and killed by An Bangyan several times. In the end, She'an was never eradicated, and he was still able to establish a feudal state.

It was not until the first year of Chongzhen that the imperial court changed its strategy and changed the annihilation of each province separately to a joint attack.Zhu Xieyuan was appointed as the governor-general of the military affairs of the five provinces of Yunnan, Guizhou, Sichuan, Huguang, and Guangdong. He had full power and unified command, thus avoiding the passive situation of neighboring provinces not negotiating with each other and the thieves' power being difficult to eliminate.

In the end, the rebels were defeated in the "Battle of Yongning". She Chongming was defeated and killed, and the main force of the rebels was basically eliminated. Finally, in the tenth year of Chongzhen (1637), Chief An of Shuixi died, and the She'an rebellion was completely put down.

In view of this historical lesson, Zhu Youxiao appointed Zhu Xieyuan as the governor of Sichuan and Guizhou in advance to lead the military affairs. He also earmarked 40 internal funds for military expenses in order to avoid the historical situation where officers and soldiers from various provinces were uncoordinated and carried out separate encirclement and suppression campaigns.

Now it seems to have worked. Zhu Xieyuan's strategy of first annihilating She Chongming and then An Bangyan has been proven correct by history.

As long as he can continue to lead his troops to attack, enter Guizhou, unite all provinces to continue the encirclement and suppression, and do not give the rebels a chance to breathe.

"Thinking about it this way, this method is indeed feasible, but just in case, the She'an two people escaped, so the cabinet issued an edict and ordered Zhu Xieyuan to governor the military affairs of the five provinces of Yunnan, Guizhou, Sichuan, Huguang, and Guangdong. This year, the Southwest The taxation does not need to be escorted to the capital, it is directly planned by Zhu Xieyuan, and all is used for revolt. In addition, I appropriated 100 million taels of silver from the internal funds, and the Ministry of Household Affairs allocated another 50, for a total of 150 million for military expenses. We must not chill the hearts of the frontline soldiers. "

Liu Yishen was overjoyed when he heard this. Although the income from the southwestern provinces was not much to be escorted to the capital, and the total was only 80 million taels, it was still a lot.

He originally thought about asking the emperor to give him some more money, but he didn't expect that the emperor gave it to him without asking.The troops used in the southwest are mainly chieftain soldiers and military household soldiers, which cost less. Now adding the original funds for the suppression of rebellion, there are 60 million taels, which is enough to last for a year.

"Your Majesty is so considerate of the imperial court. I would like to thank Your Majesty on behalf of the people of the southwest."

"Well, money has to be spent wisely. I just hope that Zhu Xieyuan will not let me down."

Zhu Youxiao is not afraid of spending money now, but he is afraid that the war will be delayed. The imperial army in the southwest is very weak now. If the southwest cannot be wiped out for a long time, other chieftains will definitely despise the imperial court, and then they will also rebel.

This was the case with the famous Shapu Rebellion in history. The reputation of the chieftain of Ami Prefecture in southern Yunnan was that he saw the weakness of the imperial court during the She'an Rebellion, so he launched an army to rebel. It was not wiped out until the end of the Ming Dynasty, and it lasted for more than 30 years.

Therefore, we cannot lose this battle, we can only win.

However, Zhu Youxiao, who has historical experience, believes that as long as the command is unified and the money and food are provided, there should be no major troubles. The main thing is to see whether the progress is fast.

Thinking of this, he actually wanted to send the Beijing Camp out. However, the Beijing Camp had just been restructured and its combat effectiveness had not yet been fully formed. It would be fine if he sent it there and won, but if he lost, it would be a big deal.

So I can only suppress this idea and tell myself not to be anxious. As long as I am a logistics team leader, interfere less and give more money, it will actually be very good.

There's just one more thing. There are more and more military affairs now, and I'm afraid there will be even more in the future. Every major military matter has to be reported to the cabinet by the cabinet, which is really cumbersome.

"The war in Liaodong has not yet ended, and the war in the southwest has started again. I thought that if the war becomes urgent, the military information report will be submitted to the cabinet through the General Affairs Department, and then the cabinet will submit it to me. The cabinet will make a briefing outside Taihe Gate. , time-consuming and labor-intensive.

Therefore, I thought that if this were not the case, I would set up a military machine room in the Longzongmen in the future, and select the most confidential people in the cabinet to be on duty and write, specifically to assist me in handling military affairs. All military intelligence reports would be reported and negotiated by the Military Machinery Department, and other matters would still be handled by the Military Machinery Department. How do you think the cabinet will handle it? "

Liu Yishen and Shen Guan looked at each other after hearing this. It seems that the emperor wants to divide the power of the cabinet. It will be easier for those who can be selected into the cabinet to meet the emperor. This power may be higher.

However, the emperor said that the candidate should be selected from the cabinet. Now that there are only two people in the cabinet, it is not obvious who to choose.

　The first update, please subscribe!
　　
　
(End of this chapter)