Chongzhen revived the Ming Dynasty

Thanks to the increasingly sophisticated wall-panel communication system, anything happening in Liaodong could be quickly transmitted to the capital.

Not to mention such a major event as the reorganization of the army, Sun Chengzong and others must report it to the Privy Council.

Therefore, Zhu Youjian soon received the memorials from the Liaodong generals, and was somewhat embarrassed about Sun Chengzong's request:
"It's a good thing that Sun Chengzong and Zhao Lujiao dared to fight, but it's a pity that it's not the right time!"

"If a war breaks out now, it's hard to say who will win or lose."

After the single-shot musket was finalized, Zhu Youjian had already been pushing for the equipment of this type of musket. The reorganization of the Liaodong army was also related to saving military expenses and equipping new muskets.

If in a few years, the Liaodong army was equipped with new muskets and adapted to new tactics, Zhu Youjian would never stop the Liaodong army from going to war, and would even order them to move forward.

However, at the beginning of the transition from the old to the new, it is difficult to say how much the combat effectiveness of the Liaodong army has changed.

Zhu Youjian was not very confident of their victory and was even worried about a major defeat.

Therefore, in his heart, he was unwilling to agree to the request of the Liaodong generals.

However, Yuan Keli held a different opinion.

In a private audience with the emperor, he said:
"In a few years, the Liaodong army will be more powerful and more likely to win."

"But the process of reorganization and training will definitely not be smooth. How can Your Majesty convince the Liaodong army to reorganize and train in this way?"

Knowing clearly the difficulties of reorganization and training, Yuan Keli did not believe that the Liaodong army would be obedient.

There has been no trouble now, it’s just that the reorganization has not yet begun.

He didn't think that three thousand Yingyang troops could suppress the fierce generals of Liaodong. Those people became arrogant and ignored anyone's orders.

Therefore, he believed that the Liaodong army should fight a battle with the Jianlu. If they won, everything would be fine. If they lost, the Liaodong army would be more obedient and accept reorganization.

Zhu Youjian pondered his suggestion and felt that it made some sense.

He also did not want to use the precious Yingyang Army for internal defense. This army was the seedling of a new type of army and should be used to temper it in foreign wars.

So he said to Yuan Keli:
"Mr. Yuan's intention is to let General Sun and others lead the Liaodong army to fight against the Jianlu."

"Whether we win or lose, can we give an explanation to the people of Liaodong?"

Yuan Keli responded:

"exactly!"

"This battle is not only to give an explanation to the people of Liaodong, but also to the court and the people of Ming Dynasty."

"The imperial court has been collecting Liao tribute and supporting the Liaodong army for many years. We cannot disband the army without recovering an inch of territory."

"I think that this time the army reduction should not limit the number of people. As long as they dare to fight, they will be allowed to stay."

"If these people can perform meritorious deeds on the battlefield, the court will reward them."

"Those who died on the battlefield can also be included in the ancestral temple."

The subtext is that if you die in battle, you don't have to worry about your resettlement, nor do you have to worry about the possibility of a mutiny during disarmament.

As for listing them in the Temple of Heroes and providing relief to the martyrs' families, these things are much easier to handle. It is impossible for the dead to cause trouble to the court.

Zhu Youjian heard Yuan Keli's plan for the Liaodong reorganization from these words. Compared with his own forced disarmament of Liaodong, it was even more cruel and resolute.

With the current combat power of the Jianlu, the Liaodong army would suffer tens of thousands of casualties regardless of whether they win or lose this battle.

In that way, the imperial court would not have to worry about any problems arising from disarmament and could go ahead with the reorganization.

When Zhu Youjian first became emperor, he would have hesitated. Not only was he worried about how to deal with the Jianlu after the Liaodong army was damaged, but he also couldn't make up his mind to do so.

But after being emperor for several years, he was able to make decisions calmly on wars involving the lives of tens of thousands of people.

Even because the Beijing camp was building up its combat effectiveness after training, it could calmly deal with the problems caused by the losses of the Liaodong army.

So after careful consideration, Zhu Youjian said to Yuan Keli:
"You ask the General Staff to come up with a plan. First of all, we need to ensure that there will be no problems with the defense of Shanhaiguan."

"On this basis, we will see whether to approve the Liaodong Army's combat plan, and then adjust the reorganization plan accordingly."

When Yuan Keli heard that the emperor was willing to give in, he finally breathed a sigh of relief. He felt that he had not let down his old friend Sun Chengzong and had secured a fighting opportunity for him.

The main reason why he appeared so cold just now was to persuade the emperor.

He knew that the emperor had always been dissatisfied with the Liaodong army, believing that they consumed too much military expenditure but were only capable of defending the city. He had never counted on the Liaodong army and chose to train a new army instead.

If he hadn't said this, the emperor would never have agreed to let the Liaodong army go to war and avoided their great defeat.

Now the emperor first mentioned the defense of Shanhaiguan, and he obviously thought so in his heart. So he immediately assured the emperor:

"Master Sun left 30,000 soldiers in Shanhaiguan to ensure that there will be no problems in Shanhaiguan."

"And they plan to transfer Ma Shilong and Jin Guofeng to work together. The two of them are enough to ensure the safety of Shanhaiguan."

Zhu Youjian was quite satisfied with these two candidates. After Ma Shilong experienced the setbacks in the Battle of Liuhe, he became more calm after being reinstated. After Gaizhou built the fort, it fought several battles of varying sizes, and his and Huang Long's performances were worthy of praise.

As for Jin Guofeng, there is no need to mention him. He was a person that Zhu Youjian dug out and specially trained based on his memory.

In history, this man was able to defend Songshan with only 3,000 soldiers. Now he commands 30,000 soldiers at Shanhaiguan, so he should have no problem defending it.

So after making sure that Shanhaiguan was safe, Zhu Youjian thought about the Dalinghe defense line and Man Gui in Daning, and finally decided to fight this battle and gave instructions:

"The Privy Council should consider the Liaodong war from a global perspective and ask Liaonan, Dongjiang, Korea, Andong, Heilongjiang and other places to cooperate."

"In addition to the various tribes on the grasslands that are loyal to the Ming Dynasty, I plan to set up three protectorates from east to west: Daning, Guihua, and Hetao, to tie down the energy of the Jianlu and prevent them from ruling the grasslands south of the desert with peace of mind."

"All these must be taken into comprehensive consideration to create a favorable situation for the Liaodong army in the decisive battle."

"I allow the Privy Council to mobilize all forces to formulate a combat plan based on a solid defense."

"This plan will be implemented next year and will be named the Xinwei Plan."

It is already August this year, and Liaodong will soon enter winter, which is not conducive to building a city.

In addition, large-scale troop mobilization also takes time, so Zhu Youjian decided to launch the Liaodong Campaign next year.

The fourth year of Chongzhen was the Xinwei year, so the name of this plan was naturally named the Xinwei Plan, after last year's Jisi Plan and this year's Gengwu Plan.

Compared with this year's weak Gengwu plan, this plan will be larger in scale. Even the Gengwu plan will have to be adjusted accordingly to prepare for the war next year.

Yuan Keli quickly proposed:

"Winter is not conducive to building a city, but we can still set up camp on the grassland."

"I think we should set up three protectorates as soon as possible and urge the Chahan tribe to attack Khorchin."

"Try to contain the Jianlu forces and strive for victory in the Liaodong battle."

Zhu Youjian nodded and told him to go ahead and do it. He did not have high expectations for the outcome of the Liaodong War, he just wanted to use it to reorganize the Liaodong army.

So he let the matter go completely and asked the Privy Council and the generals of Liaodong to come up with a battle plan.
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After receiving authorization from the emperor, Yuan Keli quickly returned to the Privy Council to convene a meeting to discuss the Xinwei Plan: "Last year and this year's combat plans both focused on defense and containment, so that the Jianlu could not influence the Ming Dynasty."

"But the plan for next year's Xinwei is different. Your Majesty has decided to respond to the request of the Liaodong generals and take the initiative to attack the Jianlu and prepare for a decisive battle with the main force."

"So the Xinwei Plan aims to fight a decisive battle with the main force, strive to defeat the Jianlu and change the situation in Liaodong."

This goal obviously made the Privy Councilors present at the meeting somewhat excited.

After they changed from civil servants to civilian officers, they thought it was nothing at first, but now the differences between them and civil servants are becoming more and more obvious.

The biggest difference is that their promotion is mainly based on military merit, and it is easier for them to obtain hereditary positions or titles than for civil officials.

Therefore, officials of the Privy Council generally look forward to war, because only continuous wars can give them more opportunities for promotion.

Recovering Liaodong was obviously a great achievement, enough to give birth to several marquises and even dukes among the privy ministers present.

This made them all look happy. Border Defense Minister Liu Zunxian said:

"Is the Emperor giving the leadership of the Xinwei Plan completely to the Privy Council?"

"Will Liaodong have any objections?"

Yuan Keli has already considered this and said confidently:
"Of course, the Liaodong generals are leading the war in Liaodong."

"Wars in other places are also led by local governments."

"What the Privy Council needs to do is to coordinate and bring out their combined strength."

"Whether there is a breakthrough on the battlefield, the Privy Council will share the credit."

As soon as these words were spoken, all the Privy Councilors present were happy.

Because this means that no matter where there is military merit, they can share the profits.

So they fully agreed with the Liaodong war, and no one raised any objection.

In this way, Yuan Keli successfully eliminated the opposition of the Privy Council for Sun Chengzong. If other people in the court had any opinions, they also had to go through the Privy Council first.

It can be said that he took great pains to cooperate with this old friend, and not only convinced the emperor, but also convinced all the ministers.

In order to settle this matter, he said to Liu Zunxian:

"The Emperor has decided to establish three protectorates in the southern desert to prevent the Jianlu from ruling the grasslands in the southern desert with peace of mind."

"It has been confirmed that the Daning Protectorate will be led by Man Gui. The Guihua and Hetao Protectorates still need to elect their leaders."

"The guards who will be paired with them must also put forward candidates."

Liu Zunxian was even happier now because this was an achievement brought to him by Yuan Keli.

He just thought about it for a moment and said:
"The three governor's offices are outside the Great Wall, and they should be mainly staffed by military commanders. The duties of the guards are not heavy."

"I think it would be enough to appoint a guard commander, and make sure the general is in charge."

This caused a lot of discussion among the privy councilors present.

They were all civil servants, and they were the biggest supporters of the guard system. The place where the Ming Dynasty's civilian officers were most concentrated was actually the Privy Council.

Liu Zunxian now believed that the three Protectorates only needed generals, not military envoys. This made some people dissatisfied, believing that the number of civil servants had been reduced.

However, Yuan Keli thought this suggestion was correct. Qin Shiwen, the left assistant minister of the Ministry of War who was in charge of the army's military affairs, also supported this opinion and said:
"The main responsibility of the guards in the interior is to coordinate with the local authorities, and they also have the responsibility to govern the local authorities in the Protectorate."

"The three protectorates such as Daning are newly established and don't even have a definite jurisdiction. Setting up a military envoy now will only compete with the general for power and will not be of much use."

"The three Protectorates really only need the Guard Commander to establish the dominance of the General."

"Also, the title of general is questionable. I think it would be more appropriate to call him governor."

It does sound more appropriate to call the chief general of the Protectorate the Governor-General.

Moreover, the generals of the Ming Dynasty usually had the titles of Left Governor-General, Right Governor-General, Associate Governor-General, or Assistant Governor-General, and they were indeed qualified to be called Governor-General.

Yuan Keli didn't care about such an insignificant matter at all. In order to gain Qin Shiwen's support, he immediately decided:
"We can change the title like this. From now on, the chief commander of the Protectorate can be called the Governor-General, on par with the Protector-General."

"For the time being, the three protectorates of Daning, Guihua and Hetao will only have governors. The protectorate will be established in five years depending on the situation."

"If you have no objection, then this is how it's going to be settled."

Let everyone vote by raising their hands and form a meeting of the Privy Council.

As the person who established the Privy Council, Yuan Keli's prestige in the Privy Council was naturally enormous.

When he and Qin Shiwen both supported Liu Zunxian's opinion, there was little opposition from others. At most, a few people abstained from voting and reserved their own opinions.

After this matter was passed, Yuan Keli said:
"The governor of Daning Protectorate has been confirmed to be Man Gui."

"What are your candidates for the governors of the two protectorates of Guihua and Hetao?"

The governors of these two protectorates were all generals, and in theory they needed to be decided by the court. However, because the areas outside the Great Wall were all martial law areas, they could be appointed directly by the emperor.

The Privy Council’s task now is to propose candidates to the Emperor.

Qin Shiwen, who was in charge of the army's military affairs, had the most say in this matter and was the first to speak:

"Xuan Da has many generals and soldiers. Admiral Zhu Mei, General Hei Yunlong and others are all capable of doing the job. We can transfer one person to serve as the naturalized governor."

"In Shaanxi, we have Yang Zhaoji, the bandit suppression commander, and the five generals from Shaanxi, Yansui, Ningxia, Gansu, and Longxi, all of whom can serve as candidates for the governor of Hetao."

Border Defense Minister Lawrence Lau said:

"Zhu Mei has the ability, but his health is not good, so he may not be able to go to the frontier."

"Shaanxi is separated from the Hetao by sandy land, so it's hard to say who has the ability to cross."

"Why not send an official letter to the deputy generals and above in Xuanda, Shanxi, and Shaanxi, and ask them to recommend themselves and write a battle plan if they are interested in going beyond the border."

"The Privy Council will conduct another selection and list the top candidates."

Yuan Keli nodded and said approvingly:
"This is a good idea!"

"Governors-general need to write policy plans, and generals preparing for war must also write battle plans."

"We must select generals who dare to fight this time. We cannot let them flee upon hearing the news again."

"The Xinwei Plan is the most important task of the Privy Council next year. We must select the most elite soldiers to participate."

"Everyone's self-proposed combat plan is a military order. If you fail to complete it, you will be punished by military law!"

Add punishment to this matter, force them to use all their strength, and contain the Jianlu to support the Liaodong war. (End of this chapter)